Statement by TUV East Londonderry candidate Jordan Armstrong:
“Liam Kennedy famously questioned the Irish historical victim mentality in his 2016 book “Unhappy the Land: The Most Oppressed People Ever, the Irish?” which gave rise to the expression Most Oppressed People Ever (or MOPE for short) when it comes to how some people view Irish history.
“Leo Varadkar gave us a lesson in this today when he compared Ireland to Ukraine claiming that “we do know what it’s like to have been invaded and to have the very existence of our national identity questioned too.”
“This is utter nonsense. There has been a lot of water under the bridge since 1155, including centuries when countless thousands of Irishmen served under the Union Flag across the world.
“Such language does, however, provide us with a telling insight into how the Republic views the Unionist people of Northern Ireland. Let us also remember that the Republic provided safe haven to the terrorists of the IRA who sought to use violence to subvert the democratic will of the people of this part of the UK.
“We don’t need any lessons in MOPE history from Mr Varadkar.”