30.08.07 -
Sinn fein oppose presence of british warship in cork
Cork City’s three
Sinn Féin Councillors, Jonathan O’Brien, Annette Spillane and Fiona
Kerins have issued a joint statement deploring the presence of a
British Naval Vessel in Cork Harbour. The ship, HMS Westminster is
currently docked in the Harbour and is expected to remain there over
the weekend. Sinn Féin will be holding a peaceful protest at its
presence tomorrow afternoon (Saturday 1st September, 3.00pm). In a
joint statement the Councillors said that ‘while people may be feeling
positive about the movements on British demilitarisation in the North,
that does not mean that the Irish Government should be welcoming the
British military back to Cork with open arms. The presence of this
Warship is an affront not just to the sensibilities of Irish people
trying to bed down the Peace Process in the North but also to the
overwhelming majority of the Irish people who have justifiably opposed
Britain and the U.S.’s. war in Iraq’. ‘Sinn Fein believes that by
allowing a British warship the use of Irish Dock facilities the Irish
Government is sending out the wrong message to countless millions of
people around the world who oppose British military involvement in Iraq
-.that in spite of the Irish people’s assertion of opposition to that
war the Irish Government is nonetheless offering logistical support to
the British military engaged in that war’.
