Harmless banter or trolling? Mary McDonald, president of Sinn Fein Credit Wikimedia Commons
There’s a popular Irish saying to describe an argumentative person by saying “they could start a fight in an empty room”.
These days, it might need updating to say, “provided the room has a laptop with Twitter and wifi”.
That certainly seemed to be the case this week as a storm in the proverbial teacup was brewing in diplomatic circles.
It all kicked off on Sunday night when Mary Lou McDonald, Sinn Fein leader, posted on X as Twitter now wishes to be known, “Olé! Olé! Olé!”
She posted a further message saying “Felicidades! Comhghairdeas to the champions of Europe,” using the Irish word for congratulations.
If this seems like a lot of fuss over very little, you’d be forgiven for thinking so.
A bit of harmless banter, most thought, and some even felt it was fair enough what with the two countries chequered history. Conquest, occupation and famine were mentioned by some commenters.
Some critics disagreed, such as political opponent Pippa Hackett of the Green Party, a junior minister in the coalition government.
“This is pathetic,” she harrumphed. “At a time when we need leaders to build bridges,” she added.
Keyboard warriors piled on
This turned the heat up with keyboard warriors piling on to either accuse McDonald of gloating or Hackett of having no sense of humour.
The taoiseach (prime minister) Simon Harris, who last week welcomed the new Labour government and the opportunity for a new relationship with Whitehall, stayed admirably neutral. He congratulated Spain for the victory and commiserated with England after a hard-fought tournament.
North of the border football proved to be equally divisive. Lindsay Robinson, wife of the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) leader Gavin Robinson, said her family had been trolled with “vile messages” after she had posted a picture of her husband and her ten-year-old son rooting for England.
“I’m not a big fan of the sport but his love of it seems pretty normal to me. Some of the nasty, hate-filled responses to it are anything but normal,” she said. “Sort yourselves out.”
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Eugene Costello has been a journalist and editor for almost 30 years and has worked at the London Evening Standard, the Mail on Sunday and Daily Mail. He has written for a wide number of publications such as The Guardian, The Times and Sunday Times in addition to the above, and numerous magazines. He moved to Spain in 2020 and has no intention of going back.
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