Taoiseach defends Cathal Crowe following apology for remarks on British army

Irish Daily Mirror

5 days ago

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has stated that Fianna Fáil TD Cathal Crowe 'doesn't need to be correcting things' following his comments suggesting the British never 'bombed or shot' Irish civilians.
The Fianna Fáil leader also confirmed that he did not tell the TD to apologise in the Dáil.
The Clare TD was criticised by Sinn Féin for the comments during a Labour motion on the situation in Gaza on Wednesday.
He said: '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.'
On Thursday morning, Mr Crowe was given an opportunity by the Ceann Comhairle to make a personal statement.
He 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 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.'
Speaking at Bord Bia Bloom, Mr Martin said he thought the situation had been blown out of proportion as he insisted that he did not tell Mr Crowe to make the Dáil statement.
The Taoiseach said: 'Cathal Crowe is a very solid TD and he doesn't need to be wrecked.
'I think people need to be careful not to be overreacting here. We have a peace process in Ireland that was sustained. We're at peace.
'I'm building reconciliation in Northern Ireland through the Shared Island Programme. There's no need to be fighting old wars.
'I don't think it merits this focus. I said to him, 'Everything is in perspective'. That's all.
'Cathal's views on the North are well known. Cathal's views, he studied history himself, are well known.
'He doesn't need to be correcting things, as far as I'm concerned. My view is things get said in the context of Gaza.'
Mr Martin told one journalist to 'calm down' when he was asked if it was embarrassing and reminiscent of the controversial Fine Gael attempt to commemorate the RIC in 2020.
The Taoiseach also said that Sinn Féin will try to 'provoke this and that kind of nonsense'.