Chanting 'ooh ahh up the Ra' is like singing 'ooh ahh up the Shankill Butchers': Trevor Ringland on Wolfe Tones at the Feile
A former rugby star and anti-violence advocate has said chanting "ooh ahh up the Ra" is akin to singing "ooh ahh up the Shankill Butchers".
Trevor Ringland was commenting as the appearance of the Wolfe Tones at this year's west Belfast Feile appears up in the air.
The group – known for rebel tunes like The Helicopter Song, Joe McDonnell, The Men Behind the Wire, and Sean South of Garryowen – usually appears on the last night of the festival.
And they usually finish with a song called Celtic Symphony, featuring a climactic chant of 'ooh ahh up the Ra'.
Typically, a lot of the audience – many of them just teenagers – join in.
The band is currently winding down after six decades; for instance, it is about to play its last-ever show in London this weekend.
Amid all this, is it unclear what their plans are for the 2024 Feile.
Mr Ringland is a lawyer and former Ireland international who has often been outspoken on the need for cross-community reconciliation.
He worries about the message which the band has sent to young Feile-goers.
He said "the fact they've been invited so many times despite this matter being raised is a challenge for the organisers".
"It's for them [the Wolfe Tones] to explain it," he added.
"But if you sang a song singing 'ooh ahh, up the Shankill Butchers', would you continue to sing that song or would you say 'it is time for us to put that song to bed and never repeat it again?'"
The butchers were a faction of the UVF notorious for touring around Belfast for several years from 1975, tormenting and murdering random Catholic people.
They are thought to have killed around two dozen people.
The IRA's cumulative death toll was in excess of 1,800 during the Troubles.
Mr Ringland said what the IRA (and paramilitaries generally) did "was brutal, wrong and unjustified; it brought misery to thousands of lives across this island on all sides, many young men imprisoned because they listened to the siren voices of a political ethos that was very deeply flawed".
He added: "As Maurice Hayes [a former Irish senator from Co Down] said: Nothing was ever achieved through violence on this island that could not otherwise have been achieved through peaceful means.
"That's the proper message for young people, and it's the message the rest of us have to keep emphasising time and time again to counter those who'd argue otherwise."
The Arts Council NI (ACNI) said back in 2022: “On Monday morning, ACNI were made aware of an incident of sectarian chanting which occurred at a Feile an Phobail concert over the weekend.
“As Feile are recipients of our funding, ACNI moved to investigate the circumstances and contacted Feile for initial information on the matter.
“The organisation confirmed that chanting had arisen from the audience at the Wolfe Tones concert, an entirely commercial event.”
(However footage of the concert clearly showed chanting being led by the band.)
The Arts Council added that it supports events which “reach across boundaries and bring people and communities together” and that “sectarianism has no place in the promotion of culture”.
Approaches were made to the festival and the band’s promoter to see if they are playing the festival this year, and if they want to respond to Mr Ringland’s points. At time of writing, a response is awaited.