Northern Ireland is descending back into sectarianism

Nearly 25 years after the Good Friday Agreement, the embers of sectarianism in Northern Ireland are still glowing bright.

This week thousands of young nationalists at a west Belfast community and music festival ended the night by chanting pro-IRA slogans. They were seemingly oblivious to the fact that the IRA murdered more Roman Catholics in the Troubles than any other combatants.

The spectacle of kids, born after the guns went silent, gleefully venerating terrorists who brought such pain and suffering to the whole community was depressing enough. But it gets worse. The West Belfast based Féile (festival), where the chanting took place, is publicly funded by Belfast City Council, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and NI tourism board. And this offensive chanting has taken place at the festival for several years. Only now, after persistent questioning by the BBC’s Nolan Show (also responsible for revealing the moral corruption of Stonewall), have some of these bodies grudgingly accepted they need to review their financial and corporate endorsement of the event.