Limerick TD defends 'laughter' tweet

LIMERICK Sinn Fein TD Maurice Quinlivan has defended a message he put out on Twitter which has sparked a backlash.

The Limerick city polltopper retweeted a video from the Féile an Phobail in Belfast showing a huge crowd in the Falls Park singing the Cranberries song Zombie.

He captioned it ‘laughter of our children’, a quote from IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands, who said “Our revenge will be the laughter of our children” in reference to the campaign for a United Ireland.

But the song Zombie, penned and sang by the late Ballybricken vocalist Dolores O’Riordan was written as a protest against IRA violence, and particularly two victims of one episode Jonathan Ball, 3, and Tim Parry, 12, who died in the 1993 Warrington bombings.

When contacted by the Limerick Leader about his tweet, Mr Quinlivan said: “I retweeted a video from the Falls Park, saying it was great to see. I’ve been in west Belfast at this time of year in the past and what you had was a celebration in the park of young people.”

He believes some people have deliberately misinterpreted the tweet.

“I was not saying anything only to commend the people who organised it and welcome the people enjoying it. That’s what I was saying. People can spin it whatever way they want. But I think people who know me know what I was saying,” Mr Quinlivan added.