‘CRANKY DUP ARE SUCH HYPOCRITES’ Wolfe Tones star blasts claims their concert a ‘hate fest’
Fingal County Council concluded that the application “would further safeguard the role of Dublin Airport and the long term amenity of residents in the area”.
A DAA spokesman welcomed the decision on the issue.
They said yesterday that Fingal County Council’s determination “provides for the limited extended use of the new runway at key late-evening and early-morning busy periods and includes a generous insulation grant scheme for eligible local residential properties”. ‘OFFENSIVE’: The bonfire is lit in the Bogside area and (inset, from top) Coveney and Donaldson condemned it
Images of Queen Elizabeth II and a PSNI Land Rover were also displayed.
Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney tweeted his condemnation: “Whether in July or August, this kind of hatred is so far from the future we should be trying to build.”
DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson said it was an “outrageous and offensive display”.
Derry’s Mayor Sandra Duffy condemned the displays as “totally wrong”, adding “those responsible do not represent the people of Derry”.
“The burning of posters, wreaths, and election posters on bonfires in Derry last night was disgraceful and totally wrong,” she said.
WOLFE Tones frontman Brian Warfield has blasted the DUP as “hypocritical” — for ranting at their “hate fest” concert but not “cranking about the bonfires on Shankill road”.
The band’s annual gig at Sunday night’s Feile An Phobail in Belfast saw thousands sing along to their lyrics “Oh, ah, up the Ra” to their song Celtic Symphony.
But unionists in the north have been left fuming over pro-IRA chanting.
Republican balladeer Warfield told the The Star: “We’re entitled to our own song and culture.
“They might give medals and titles back to the people who killed for England over the years - Sir or Lord this but we don’t give titles to the Irish people that fought for freedom. What we do is we give them a song in their memory.”
DUP MLA Emma Little-Pengelly who branded the concert as a “hate fest” - called on all organisations who provide funding and sponsorship for Feile to voice their position on pro-IRA chants.
She added: “Public money cannot be used to fund an event which year after year spends hours glorifying the terrorism of the PIRA [Provisional Irish Republican Army].
“Any organisation is entitled to apply for any grant but there are always conditions attached to funding.
Bonfire
“Central to many grant awards is a commitment to good relations. This festival has set good relations back decades for tens of thousands of teenagers. Rather than moving Northern Ireland forward, this festival is dragging us backwards.”
One of the funders of
Feile, Tourism NI, last night said it was investigating the matter. But Warfield said such calls came every year and pointed towards funding going towards July bonfires on council grounds in unionist areas.
And hitting out at the DUP, Warfield fumed: “I think the crankiness of the DUP is very hypocritical, I don’t hear them cranking about the bonfires on the Shankill road, or the Shankill butchers, or any of the things that happened in the loyalist areas.
“Remember that people are allowed to have their heroes.
“One song out of the whole evening describes me walking through Glasgow, and graffiti on the wall I saw said ‘Oh, ah, up the Ra’.”
He added: “Once again, the cranks are out, they come out after every concert we do. This has happened to us since the 60s.”