Gerry Adams-supporting Mayor of New York should be ashamed of his double standards

AN open letter to the Mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio:

Dear Mr de Blasio, this St Patrick’s Day in London, the Ireland rugby team made sporting history by winning a Grand Slam Six Nations Championship. They did so standing shoulder-to-shoulder singing Ireland’s Call — an anthem recognising that the team consists of players from both countries and traditions on the Emerald Isle.

This respect flows from the Good Friday Agreement, which, being overwhelmingly endorsed on both sides of the border, confirmed the way forward here — respect for all traditions, rooted in the principle of consent. How sad, then, that you stand on the wrong side of history with Gerry Adams, who supported the campaign to try to usurp the principle of consent down the barrel of a gun. This was a wicked tyranny, imposed over a 30-year period, for which he has never apologised.

As Mayor of New York city, you should recognise terrorism when you see it, but your moral compass may need adjusting. You previously boycotted the St Patrick’s Day parade in support of gay rights, but you now laud an apologist for the violence and murder campaign of the IRA.

I will let you condemn yourself in your own words, spoken last October, about the truck attack in Manhattan: “This was an act of terror and a particularly cowardly act of terror aimed at innocent civilians, aimed at people going about their lives, who had no idea what was about to hit them ... but we also know New Yorkers are strong ... and will never be moved by an act of violence.”

Finally, it is not within your gift to rename St Patrick’s Day — it belongs to the good people of Ireland.

JOHN McCLEMENTS By email