There’s been absolute uproar on social media over suggestions that some famous and much loved Irish statues may be removed over claims that they represent racism.
Some people are saying that it’s just a step too far and the statues have absolutely nothing to do with racism and or George Floyd/Black Lives Matter protests in the United States.
Caretaker Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has predictably jumped on the progressive bandwagon of tearing down statues of people judged by today’s standards to be offensive.
The trend of removing statues of individuals linked to slavery and, or racism began in the US with progressives getting Confederate statues, such as that of Robert E. Lee, taken down.
With the recent Black Lives Matter protests the trend has now spread to the UK.
Varadkar was speaking to RTE 2FM recently when he was asked about a racism problem existing in Ireland to which he responded:
“Thankfully, we do not have the kind of problems with police brutality that we see in the United States, we have a very professional police force and we’re grateful for that.
“If you look at the Traveller community and how they are treated and spoke about – that’s a form of racism.
Anyone who grew up in Ireland mixed race like me would be aware of the fact that when you look and sound different – people treat you differently and it is not nice.”
One of the statues the Fine Gael leader referenced as possibly being removed was that of Sean Russel in Dublin’s Fairview Park. It was defaced on Tuesday night with in a rainbow flag attack but has since been cleaned by Dublin City Council.
Erected in 1951 in honour of the 1916 Rising veteran and one time chief of staff of the IRA that statue has attracted controversy as Russel had numerous contacts with the Third Reich attempting to secure support for an armed campaign against British rule in the North of Ireland.
Russel sadly died in 1940 on a German U-boat while travelling from Germany to Ireland and while he was never a proponent of Germany’s National Socialist ideology this has not deterred leftists and progressives from attacking his statue and calling for its removal.
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