Outrage at '˜IRA' sign at coffee shop on Falls Road

The west Belfast gift shop and cafe - The Fenians - on the corner of Beechmount Avenue displays an ‘IRA’ sign in its window.

However, the Irish News has reported that a staff member said the initials refer to ‘Irish and Republican Accessories’.

The staff member added: “The play on the letters IRA was just to draw people in.

“Ninety per cent of tourists we encounter are political tourists who are interested in the history of the area, the Falls Road and Irish republicanism in general.”

The staff member said they are an “independent business” who have “no connection or affiliation to any political party or grouping”.

The business has also used social media to promote its sale of Union flag toilet paper.

This morning DUP Councillor Christopher Stalford said: “At a time when the rest of Northern Ireland is keen to move on from the dark days of the past it is shameful that people would seek to make profit out of the glorification of terrorism.”

Councillor Stalford added that republicans “were responsible for 60 per cent of the deaths that occurred during the Troubles” and the “flimsy excuses given for the use of the term IRA will not wash with the wider public”.