Victims welcome Leo Varadakar admission at Ireland's Future event that Republic of Ireland had been 'sectarian in character'
Campaigners seeking recognition of an IRA massacre of Protestants in Co Cork have given a cautious welcome to Leo Varadkar’s admission that the state had been "sectarian in character".
Neal Jagoe of the Dunmanway Discussion Group was speaking after Mr Varadkar said that strong and specific apologies from the IRA and the Irish state for its treatment of Protestants could help to “change hearts and minds” over unification.
Mr Varadkar was speaking at the pro-Irish unification 'Ireland’s Future' event in Belfast on Saturday.
“I think we should certainly acknowledge that the first few decades of the Irish free state and the Irish state which followed was sectarian in character," he said.
Mr Varadkar went on to criticize republicans for giving "general" apologies for what everyone suffered and said much stronger more specific apologies would help to change the hearts and minds.
Mr Jagoe said he welcomed Mr Varadkar's admission that the Irish state had been sectarian in nature.
He was speaking for the The Dunmanway Discussion Group which campaigns for an official Irish government acknowledgement of the Bandon Valley Massacre in Co Cork in 1922. His group says the atrocity saw the IRA carry out a sectarian massacre of 13 Protestant boys and men.
Responding to Mr Varadkar, he said: "We cautiously welcome those reported comments of Mr Varadkar's that appear to accept that injustices were committed against the Protestant minority in the early years of the Irish Free State. And that that state was 'sectarian in character'.”
He said it was "deeply regrettable" that Mr Varadkar's government failed to include the Bandon Valley Massacre in its recent Decade of Centenary commemorations.
"If the Irish Government really wants to influence 'hearts and minds' then a statement on the Bandon Valley Massacre and other legacy crimes might be a useful starting point," he said.
"We would also fully support Mr Varadkar's call for the Provisional IRA to apologise unequivocally for its crimes."
Victims campaigner Kenny Donaldson, director of the South East Fermanagh Foundation, responded that acknowledgements should come from The Provisional IRA and The Irish State for their respective roles in the Troubles.
"But this must follow because they understand it is the right thing to do, and not as a cynical ploy for constitutional advantage," he said.