President’s speech under fire

PRESIDENT Mary McAleese, in her speech on 1916 in Cork on January 30, seems to have undone her own good work on cross-community relations in recent years.

Or is it a case of the mask slipping and the real person coming through, as epitomised by her famous 'Nazi' remarks last year?

Mrs McAleese is president for all, and her speech soon after the Taoiseach's announcement reinstating the military parade at Easter leaves me worried. Now that the Provos have stopped killing Protestants, is this a case of it being respectable again to commemorate Pearse and his 'red blood sacrifice.'