Mags Gargan
Oscar-nominated actor Stephen Rea has criticised the ‘crocodile’ comments by the DUP’s Arlene Foster in relation to the Irish Language Act as “an outrage”.
The Belfast-born actor said Ms Foster had pushed Northern Ireland back to the time of Lord Brookeborough, the former Northern Ireland Prime Minister known for his anti-Catholic views.
The DUP leader had explained that her refusal to agree to Sinn Féin’s demand for an Irish Language Act was because: “If you feed a crocodile they’re going to keep coming back and looking for more.”
She later said the crocodile term referred to Sinn Féin and was not anti-Catholic but she regretted using the term because it had allowed Sinn Féin to mount “a campaign of demonisation against me”.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, Mr Rea dismissed this as “apologising to herself” because “she didn’t think about what she said”.
“She should have apologised to every nice Catholic in the place. She wasn’t talking about the Shinners; she was talking about all Catholics,” he said.