McAleese urged to stay away from Shankill

President Mary McAleese was tonight urged to stay away from the loyalist Shankill area of Belfast later this month.

She is due to meet staff and pupils at a primary school on February 24, according to Ulster Unionists.

But in the aftermath of remarks comparing Nazi hatred to sectarianism in Northern Ireland which caused such fury within the Protestant community, they have called on her to postpone the visit.

Fred Cobain, a member of the suspended Northern Ireland Assembly said: “She may believe that this visit may in some way help make reparation for the offence caused, but the sense of hurt and outrage within the Protestant community is such that it would be entirely counter-productive for her to do so.

“She will not receive a sympathetic hearing and in reality will only succeed in rubbing salt into the wound.”

Last month on the 60th anniversary of the Auschwitz liberation, the President said the anti-Semitism that existed for decades had been built upon by the Nazis.

She claimed: “They gave to their children an irrational hatred of Jews in the same way that people in Northern Ireland transmitted to their children an irrational hatred, for example, of Catholics, in the same way that people give to their children an outrageous and irrational hatred of those who are of different colour and all of those things.”

She later apologised, but Mr Cobain said the planned visit to Edenbrook school was far too soon.

He added: “If Mrs McAleese is genuinely keen on building bridges then I strongly advise her to postpone this visit. If this visit is allowed to proceed it will represent another serious misjudgement and will compound the original offence.”

Councillor Chris McGimpsey, also an Ulster Unionist said the President had insulted and wrongfully maligned an entire community and may not fully understand the profound sense of hurt she has caused in the Protestant community.

He added: “By expressing regret for her clumsy comments, Mrs McAleese made a step in the right direction. But by seeking to impose herself on the Protestant community so quickly after so grievously offending it, she goes too far, too soon.

“The sensible thing for her to do is stay away for the time being.”

President McAleese’s spokesperson made no comment on the matter.