TD apologises after claiming British never 'bombed or shot' Irish people
TD Cathal Crowe has apologised in the Dáil after he claimed the British Army, "never retaliated by bombing and shooting the civilian population of Ireland" during a debate about Gaza.
The comments from the Clare TD sparked criticism from Sinn Féin when he spoke during a Labour motion on the situation in Gaza on Wednesday. He said: "What is happening is not a war anymore; it is ethnic cleansing, genocide and, more recently, the weaponising of food.
"The British army was a bad actor on this island for many centuries but even in the worst of days, when its cities were being bombed by the terror organisations of the IRA, it never retaliated by bombing and shooting the civilian population of Ireland."
Sinn Féin's Aengus Ó Snodaigh called for the Fianna Fail TD to apologies following his statement. The Ceann Comhairle provided Mr Crowe with the chance to clarify his statements on Thursday morning, reports the Irish Mirror.
Deputy Crowe said: "I apologise profusely to anyone that may have been offended by my comments. The speech I made was during the debate that this house had had on Gaza."
"I was speaking without a scripted speech, and instead, using a series of bullet points. I began by stating that the Israeli eye-for-an-eye approach has been reprehensible, and that the bombing of hospitals, schools and tents, alongside the killing of babies, including many newborn babies in hospitals, amounts to genocide and ethnic cleansing.
"I then wanted to make the point that brutal, bad and all as the British armed forces have been on this island for a very long time, they never resorted to sending over the Royal Air Force tanks and missiles to pummel Irish cities.
"I wanted to convey the magnitude and the visceral hatred which has been behind the Israeli Defence Forces actions in Gaza and I also wanted to convey the huge disproportionality that the Israeli state has adopted following their reprehensible Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023.
"Regrettably, speaking largely off the cuff, I clumsily and wrongly stated, 'They never retaliated by bombing or shooting the civilian population of Ireland'. Let me be very clear, it was not my intention to say this, and I didn't realise how woeful all of that sounded until late last night when I received the transcript of what I had actually said.
"It was a genuine slip up on my part, but it was wrong, and I wish to unequivocally and profusely apologise." Mr Crowe said that he taught and studied history and led a boycott in 2020 to oppose a planned state commemoration of the Royal Irish Constabulary.
He continued: "I know that the British armed forces have been involved in many heinous attacks on Irish people historically.
"Bloody Sunday in Croke Park 1920, the massacre of 26 civilians at Derry's Bogside in 1972 and the countless other actions in recent history and further back in history for which they're responsible. I make this apology entirely of my own volition and it is genuine."
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