Northern Ireland committee head apologises for ‘offence’ caused by bonfire tweet

Senior Conservative MP Simon Hoare issued a “sincere and heartfelt” apology for the now-deleted tweet.
Twelfth of July celebrations
PA Wire
James Ward5 July 2021

The chairman of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee has apologised “offence” caused by a tweet about loyalist bonfires.

Senior Conservative MP Simon Hoare has since deleted the post on Twitter that said: “Who knew William of Orange arrived in Ireland with hundreds of wooden pallets hence the traditional pallet burning fiesta began.”

The tweet was criticised by members of the loyalist community and was deleted soon afterwards, before Mr Hoare issued an apology.

He said on Twitter: “Earlier I posted a Tweet which was never intended to cause the offence it has to some in NI.

“I want to say fully &unequivocally that I am sorry. I intended only to be humorous/tongue in cheek & I got it wrong.

“I hope my apology will be accepted. It is sincere & heartfelt.”

Among those to respond to the apology were Ulster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie, who wrote “That’s fair Simon” followed by three hand-clapping emojis.

Former Labour MP Kate Hoey who recently appeared at a loyalist rally in Newtownards, rejected the apology.

She tweeted: “Sincere and heartfelt ?? Well we will see if he can refrain from his regular snide remarks and obvious anti Unionist and loyalist views and his pandering to nationalists and the Irish Government.”

Kate Hoey
PA Wire

Loyalist activist Jamie Bryson, who led the condemnation of Mr Hoare’s original tweet, said resigning from the committee would be “the appropriate course of action”.

But others criticised Mr Hoare for issuing the apology.

Days ahead of the July 11 bonfires which precede the traditional day of parades on July 12, to mark the anniversary of King William of Orange’s victory at the Battle of the Boyne, a number of political posters, including Sinn Fein, SDLP and Alliance material, have been seen on some pyres.

Irish tricolours and EU flags have also been seen on some bonfires.

In another tweet, Mr Hoare clarified this was the target of his criticism.

He said: “My point is the dangerously high pallet structures and risks they create to public health. There’s also no need to cover them with posters/images of political opponents. That’s plain divisive.”

Alliance Party leader Naomi Long is among the politicians whose posters are on bonfires.

She tweeted: “I get trolled a lot, falsely accused of hating loyalists and unionists. Nothing could be further from the truth. I’d love to know what those people make of loyalists burning my image in an act of intimidation and blatant hatred.

“Burning people’s images isn’t culture, folks.”

Mr Beattie tweeted his opposition to the burning of election posters and flags on bonfires, describing it as “not an expression of unionist culture”, adding: “It’s an expression of hate.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in