Cathal Barry
A prominent republican priest has strongly rebuked Bob Geldof’s remarks comparing the leaders of the 1916 Rising to jihadi suicide bombers.
Fr Joe McVeigh, who is based in Co. Fermanagh, told The Irish Catholic that the controversial singers’ comparison was “outrageous”.
“Normally I do not pay much attention to anything Geldof has to say. He is simply a self-publicist.
“I have to say that these remarks by Geldof are outrageous. He is certainly no historian. He is a pro-imperialist as we have seen many times over the years,” he said.
Mr Geldof, who was invested by Britain’s’ Queen Elizabeth II as an honorary knight in 1986, had condemned the leaders of the 1916 Rising and said there was little difference between them and jihadi suicide bombers.
Ringleaders
In an interview with The Irish Mail on Sunday, he argued that the ringleaders of the insurrection martyred themselves in a bid to inspire others to take up arms.
The Boomtown Rats singer also claimed that there is little difference between the rebels’ mind-set and the warped ideology behind atrocities such as the recent massacre of 73 civilians in Pakistan.
Claiming that Mr Geldof’s remarks were “outrageous”, Fr McVeigh said he “would not expect anything better” from the singer.
“Does he regard all those who took a stand against imperialism as jihadists?” he asked. “Does he regard Nelson Mandela and the many others who gave their lives in the struggle against imperialism as jihadists?”
“Geldof’s remarks are outrageous but I would not expect anything better from this self-publicist,” he said.
Writing in 1916: The Church and the Rising, the Enniskillen curate described the Rising as a “courageous act of defiance that was justified in the circumstances in which they lived”.