‘Trimble remarks show he's out of kilter'

Northern Ireland First Minister David Trimble is ‘‘totally out of kilter with the way real people feel’’, a central figure in the bid to reconcile communities north and south of the border said today.

Tony Kennedy, chairman of the Peace and Reconciliation Platform, said the Ulster Unionist leader’s comments that the Republic of Ireland was a ‘‘pathetic, sectarian and mono-cultural state’’ showed a ‘‘gulf of misunderstanding still existing between the two parts of the island’’.

Mr Kennedy made the remarks at the launch of the Platform’s pre-election submission, in which he called for greater funding and resources to be put into projects to bring together people from the island’s different communities.

He said the recent storm created by Mr Trimble’s speech to the Ulster Unionist Council on Saturday showed an ‘‘urgent need for programmes to promote reconciliation’’.

At the launch , in which Mr Kennedy called for better programmes of education and a quadrupling of cash for reconciliation projects, he said: ‘‘I think David Trimble’s comments were totally out of kilter with the way real people feel.

‘‘I know of northern protestants living in the Republic who were offended by the remarks that they lived in a ’pathetic’ state.

‘‘We need to work out the military and other such difficulties in the north but now that has started to happen we need to look at the wider aspects.

‘‘David Trimble’s exaggerated comments do not reflect the reality of life in the Republic. They do however express the genuine feelings of many unionists. They show a gulf of misunderstanding still existing between the two parts of the island and the urgent need for programmes to promote reconciliation.’’

During the launch Mr Kennedy, who also heads Co-operation Ireland - one of 16 members of the Peace and Reconciliation Platform - asked the Irish Government to increase its reconciliation fund from €2.54m to €10m.

The European Union currently spends more on Irish reconciliation than the Governments of Ireland and the UK combined, he said.

He said the few remaining denominational clauses in the Constitution should be removed.

He called for the setting up of a ‘‘peace partnership’’ between the British government, reconciliation groups, trade unions, employers’ groups and churches.

The attack on Mr Trimble came as he and Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Mark Durkan prepared for talks tomorrow with US President George W Bush. On Thursday Mr Trimble will meet with US Secretary of State Colin Powell.

During a major American-Irish dinner tomorrow night in Washington, Mr Trimble is likely to meet Taoiseach Bertie Ahern for the first time since his stinging verbal attack.