Presbyterian Church in Ireland slams DCU Prof Eoin O'Malley for comparing family of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad to 'Fermanagh Presbyterians'
The Presbyterian Church has issued a sharp riposte after a Dublin academic likened the ousted Syrian dictatorial al-Assad family to Fermanagh Presbyterians.
The comments were made by Professor Eoin O'Malley, a lecturer in politics at Dublin City University, on Sunday night.
He was commenting on a tweeted photograph of Bashar al-Assad with his parents and four adult siblings.
The father and four siblings in the photo were all wearing dark suits with shirts and ties while the mother and sister were wearing smart business-type dresses.
Prof O'Malley commented: “They look like a family of Presbyterians from Fermanagh."
The academic’s father, Des O’Malley, was an Irish minister for justice who took a tough line with the IRA, and came under persistent threat from the group.
His son’s comment drew over 130 comments, which appeared to be overwhelmingly critical.
Among them was Lord Weir of Ballyholme, DUP former minister of education.
He said: “What a nasty and bigoted tweet. If you had any respect for anyone else you should remove the comment and apologise for it.”
Emeritus Professor of Politics at Ulster University, Henry Patterson, also took issue.
He said: “I have interviewed many Protestant victims of the Provisionals in Fermanagh. This is an insult to them. You should apologise and take it down.”
But Mr O'Malley refused.
“I really don't see how it is,” he replied. “It's an observation on how ordinary-looking the family is. The target is not Ulster Protestants.”
He also told the News Letter he stood by his comments.
“As I've said online, my tweet is clearly an observation on how ordinary looking the al-Assad family appeared in the photo,” he said.
“The target of the observation was clearly the al-Assads, and not Ulster Protestants.
“Anyone who knows anything about me or my politics knows that I have nothing but sympathy for Protestant victims of political violence in Northern Ireland.”
However, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland was not impressed. A spokesman said: “We would not want to dignify Professor O’Malley’s offensive attempt at ‘humour’ with a comment.”