Anger over £1 million ratepayer grant for ‘Gaddafi-IRA’ museum

Unionists on Belfast City Council have expressed shock that the authority has ring fenced £1m for a republican museum with “obscene” exhibits such as a soldier’s rifle from an IRA bombing and a pair of Colonel Gaddafi’s shoes.
By The Newsroom
Published 4th Jan 2020, 06:30 BST
Updated 5th Jan 2020, 22:24 BST
Jonathan Ganesh of the the Docklands Victims' Association is disturbed by the council support for the projectJonathan Ganesh of the the Docklands Victims' Association is disturbed by the council support for the project
Jonathan Ganesh of the the Docklands Victims' Association is disturbed by the council support for the project

Councillors were speaking after the Roddy McCorley Society in west Belfast went public with its plans to secure official museum status.

The rifle was reportedly taken from the scene of the 1979 Narrow Water bombing in which the IRA killed 18 soldiers near Warrenpoint.

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UUP MLA Doug Beattie yesterday called for the PSNI to confiscate it. The museum also sports a pair of shoes given by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to former Belfast IRA commander Joe Cahill during talks to secure weaponry and Semtex for the provisionals.

Kevin Carson, curator of Roddy McCorley Society living history museum in Belfast, holds a pair of Col Muammar Gaddafi's slippers. They were gifted to IRA commander Joe Cahill during talks which saw the provisionals given tonnes of arms and Semtex from Libya. The slippers are now a key exhibit in the project. Photo: Niall Carson/PA WireKevin Carson, curator of Roddy McCorley Society living history museum in Belfast, holds a pair of Col Muammar Gaddafi's slippers. They were gifted to IRA commander Joe Cahill during talks which saw the provisionals given tonnes of arms and Semtex from Libya. The slippers are now a key exhibit in the project. Photo: Niall Carson/PA Wire
Kevin Carson, curator of Roddy McCorley Society living history museum in Belfast, holds a pair of Col Muammar Gaddafi's slippers. They were gifted to IRA commander Joe Cahill during talks which saw the provisionals given tonnes of arms and Semtex from Libya. The slippers are now a key exhibit in the project. Photo: Niall Carson/PA Wire

But Jonathan Ganesh, who was seriously injured by the IRA Semtex bomb at Canary Wharf in 1996, condemned the exhibit as “a sick joke” and was disturbed at it receiving ratepayer funding.

“This is all very disturbing and upsetting to all victims of terrorism,” he said.

“I’m appalled that these immoral exhibits will apparently my receive public funding. I wonder will the museum housing these sick exhibits also display my friend Inam Bashir’s watch which was given to me by his mother after his murder at Canary Wharf?

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“I will be contacting all concerned about these macabre exhibits, which glorify and justify terrorism. All terrorism is wrong”.

Kevin Carson, curator of Roddy McCorley Society living history museum in west Belfast, holds a the mangled metal frame of an L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle. It was reportedly found on the Omeath foreshore approximately a year after the Narrow Water IRA attack that killed 18 soldiers in 1979. Photo: Liam McBurney/PA WireKevin Carson, curator of Roddy McCorley Society living history museum in west Belfast, holds a the mangled metal frame of an L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle. It was reportedly found on the Omeath foreshore approximately a year after the Narrow Water IRA attack that killed 18 soldiers in 1979. Photo: Liam McBurney/PA Wire
Kevin Carson, curator of Roddy McCorley Society living history museum in west Belfast, holds a the mangled metal frame of an L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle. It was reportedly found on the Omeath foreshore approximately a year after the Narrow Water IRA attack that killed 18 soldiers in 1979. Photo: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

He now suffers constant pain in his back and hand, suffered 33% burns, lost the hearing in one ear, has shrapnel wounds all over his body and suffers PTSD.

According to council minutes, UUP Alderman Jim Rodgers was present at a committee meeting in 2017 in which councillors were updated on the City Centre Social Outcomes Fund proposals.

It was recommended that the Roddy McCorley Society be granted £1m – a quarter of the £4m pot – while the James Connolly Interpretative Centre on the Falls Road was also earmarked for a further £1m. The other £2m was marked for seven smaller projects across the city.

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But Alderman Rodgers said he was “absolutely shocked” to read details of the exhibits in the museum this week and said he would be looking into the proposals. He said the UUP and PUP had voted to open up applications for the £4m to a wider pool of applicants, but that this was voted down by the DUP and others.

“I am deeply concerned about all this because I am opposed to the council funding any type of project with paramilitary themes, whether loyalist or republican,” he said.

DUP Alderman Brian Kingston said that while the council has agreed support for the community-based tourism initiatives, the party “expects that due diligence will ensure that content is appropriate and that any Troubles-related exhibits show due regard for victims and avoid glorification of terrorism”.

“The suggestion of exhibiting an alleged British army rifle which was damaged during explosions which killed 18 army personnel is particularly obscene and would be totally insensitive to victims of terrorism.”

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Another source said council groups had to strike compromises to ensure business did not grind to a halt.

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