Sinn Féin councillor defends sharing memorial for IRA bomber
WEXFORD Sinn Féin councillor Tom Forde has defended sharing a photo of a commemorative plaque displaying an image of IRA bomber Edward O’Brien which he says was gifted to him by the O’Brien family to mark 25 years since the young Gorey man’s death.
O’Brien was killed instantly when an explosive device he was carrying exploded prematurely on a bus in the West End of London, 25 years ago this Thursday. The bomb detonated as he stood near the door of the bus, killing him instantly and injuring seven passengers and the driver.
Cllr Forde shared an image of the commemorative plaque which bears an image of O’Brien beside the Wexford GAA logo and carries the message ‘forever in our hearts’, saying: ‘Delighted to be given one of these today.’
It didn’t pass without comment. Fine Gael councillor and former inter-county footballer John Hegarty was not happy with the use of the Wexford GAA crest for this particular memorial.
In a post on social media, he said: ‘As a life long member of Wexford GAA, I have a serious issue with the County Wexford GAA crest being used to further a political agenda and glorify an act of violence. This is not okay.’
Cllr Forde, however rejected this and blasted Cllr Hegarty and TD Paul Kehoe for ‘making it political’ by speaking out about it. All the while, he distanced the post from Sinn Féin.
‘From my point of view, I just want to make the point that this was not something that was produced by Sinn Féin,’ he said. ‘It’s nothing to do with Sinn Féin and there’s no political message. There are tweets going around saying that this was commissioned by a “political group”. That’s not the case. This was a private gift from Ed O’Brien’s brother to me to mark the 25th anniversary of his death. There’s no reference on it to a political party. There’s no reference to an act of violence. It just remembers a young man on the anniversary of his death.’
While Cllr Forde was quick to distance Sinn Féin from the commemorative plaque which he posted online, the party has been unapologetic in its appraisals of O’Brien before, the local cumann in Gorey even bearing his name.
In 2010, an online article on a Wexford Sinn Féin page, bearing the names, photos and contact numbers of the party’s local elected representatives at the time, branded O’Brien ‘a soldier. A freedom fighter. A patriot’ and someone who was ‘vilified by the Irish media when he died’.
The page references Ed O’Brien’s image being used on a banner when then party leader Gerry Adams visited Vinegar Hill in Enniscorthy in 1998, something he refused to apologise for when questioned on it.
As far as Cllr Forde is concerned, it’s a personal matter and not a political one.
‘I’m good friends with Ed O’Brien’s brother,’ he said. ‘I completely support his right to remember his brother and this memorial was privately made by the family and privately given to me as a gift. Ed was a human being and he was an important person to his family.’
The elephant in the room, however, was Cllr Forde’s thoughts on Ed O’Brien himself and the circumstances of his death as an IRA volunteer carrying a bomb in London. He was unapologetic for sharing the image on his Facebook page.
‘ This island has a long and troubled history,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry that a large number of people in the six counties were discriminated against. I’m sorry that they didn’t have access to work or housing. I’m sorry that they were brutalised and that they lived in a police state; and I’m sorry that people like Ed felt that they had to go over to England and attack the British justice system over there.’
Cllr Forde said that not one person had come to him with a problem with the post he had shared and he felt that Cllr Hegarty and Deputy
Kehoe had made a political issue out of it by speaking out on it themselves.
‘ The reason the GAA crest was put on it is because Ed was a massive GAA enthusiast,’ Cllr Forde said.
‘He played football and hurling for Naomh Eanna and followed the Wexford team all over. Fans of all kinds of clubs use the crest in showing their support. People have crests on their Facebook profiles and I’ve even seen TDs wearing Wexford face masks in the Dáil. This is no different as far as I’m concerned.’ Wexford GAA took a different view. They said that the matter had been brought to their attention and that ‘ the use of our crest will be discussed at our next management meeting’. The spokesperson added that a number of complaints had been received and: ‘ The Wexford GAA name and logo is the property of Wexford GAA and may not be used in any way without written permission from Wexford GAA. The Wexford GAA county crest is trademark-registered centrally by the Gaelic Athletic Association on behalf of Wexford GAA.’
Cllr Forde, however, said that some of the criticism that was levelled at him in the wake of Cllr Hegarty’s post and Deputy Paul Kehoe speaking out on local radio was completely unwarranted.
‘ There are all kinds of tweets and posts going up about me over this.,’ he said.
‘We talk about online bullying and that type of thing, well there are tweets out there tagging the Minister for Education and calling for me to be removed from my job as a teacher and suggesting I’m trying to “radicalise children” and asking if I should be allowed to teach.
‘It’s being liked and shared all over the place by people within the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael parties. I’m very frustrated, when we talk so much about online bullying and abuse, that a council colleague would feed this kind of behaviour and these trolls with baseless accusations that I’m somehow glorifying violence.
‘John Hegarty taught me in school and I’ve always respected him in our dealings, but I’m very disappointed that he didn’t pick up the phone to me rather than sharing a picture I shared and suggesting that there was some kind of political motivation behind it. I pride myself on being very contactable to anybody who wants to get in touch with me.’
Cllr Hegarty would have his own views on these online interactions. After he shared the post criticising the use of the Wexford GAA crest on the Ed O’Brien commemorative plaque, it brought with it a whole swathe of comments from people across the country in support of O’Brien, promoting him as a hero.
‘I’ll say no more on the matter than I’ve already said, because I don’t want to prolong any kind of argument,’ Cllr Hegarty said when contacted. ‘I think the response to my post shows clearly how Sinn Féin operate in real time.’
‘We talk about concerted efforts to attack people online; well all I can say is that I knew very few of the people commenting and very few of them were from Wexford. A lot were from Dublin, Kilkenny and across the country.’
Cllr Forde was firm that he would not in any way condone any abuse aimed at his council colleague on the issue either.
‘I’ve spoken to people publicly and privately on the issue of online abuse and I would find any abuse aimed at a public representative as being unacceptable, regardless of party,’ he said.
‘But the fact is, I didn’t do anything to feed this behaviour. It all started with a false accusation that this was done for political motive.’
Concluding, he remained firm in his assertion that this was a private gift that in no way ‘glorifies violence’.
‘Nobody has said to me that they were upset by or had a problem with the post,’ he said.
‘I respect the right of any grieving person to remember their loved ones.’