Mayor defends her 'patriotism' call

ENCOURAGING shoppers to stay in Dublin, rather than going to the North for bargains, was an act of “patriotism, not partitionism”, the Lord Mayor of Dublin Eibhlin Byrne has said.

Ms Byrne was responding to what Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness last week said was the nonsensical debate about cross-Border shopping. In relation to suggestions that it was unpatriotic of residents of this State to go to Newry to shop, Mr McGuinness said Ireland was affected by three great evils, namely sectarianism, racism and partitionism.

Ms Byrne said it was her job to promote the interests of Dublin, as it was Mr McGuinness’s job to promote those of Derry. “I feel that it is wrong for him to equate my expression of what is good for my own constituents with evil and partitionism, in particular when all our futures are now under such serious threat.”

The prosperity of Dublin would enhance the prosperity of the whole Island, she said. “I promote patriotism, not partitionism. I carry the honour of being, for the time being, Dublin’s first citizen with pride and a sense of responsibility that reaches beyond the city boundaries,” she said.