MLA calls for 'serious conversation' after video emerges of Armagh GAA fans' pro-IRA chants during victory over Down

The video taken during Armagh’s victory over Down on Sunday in the Ulster Senior Football Championship shows a group of fans, most of them young adults, chanting the line from the Wolfe Tones song ‘Celtic Symphony’.

Having seen the clip, DUP North Belfast MLA Phillip Brett said: “All right thinking people agree this has no place anywhere in society but definitely not in a sports ground.

“It’s time there was a serious conversation as to why we have seen an upsurge of incidents where people seek to glorify the IRA. That conversation needs to take place primarily within nationalism including within the GAA.”

He added: “Sinn Fein must accept that their attempt to blur the rights and wrongs of the past is perpetuating it today. Michelle O’Neill claims that there was ‘no alternative’ to IRA terrorism, yet those who copy the IRA’s tactics today she says are wrong.

“Such deliberate doublespeak by Sinn Fein inspires a new generation to glorify IRA terrorism by chanting “ooh ah up the ra” whilst other republicans seek to emulate the very same actions of the IRA and engage in acts of terrorism against police officers and others.

“All of these incidents are connected and related. The common thread is the lack of challenge to those who have failed to provide political leadership.”

The pro-IRA chants come after the theft of a Union Flag in Omagh the previous day, allegedly by GAA fans.

A video was also taken of this incident which shows a young man climbing a flag pole situated in the middle of a field and removing the flag.

As he reaches the top and pulls the flag down, those walking along the road cheer the act.

It took place as supporters were making their way to a County GAA match and were parking nearby.

West Tyrone DUP MLA Tom Buchanan said those who entered private property and removed the flag should be investigated by the police and sanctioned by the GAA.

He added: "This was theft and it will be a matter for the police. But there is also an issue of leadership. The GAA crowd can be heard cheering as the Union Flag is removed. Any supporter found to be involved in this incident should be sanctioned by the Ulster Council.

"I will be writing to the Ulster Council drawing their attention to the issue. Also if the man who stole the flag was attending the match, what action will be taken against him by the GAA?”

The PSNI says it is treating the pulling down of a Union Flag as a sectarian motivated hate crime.

The News Letter has contacted the GAA about both videos, however they are yet to confirm if they are aware of the pro-IRA chants and theft of the Union Flag and what they intend to do about the incidents.