Lady Foster said: “There’s a definite need to deal with the issue of glorification of terrorism…”
Former Northern Ireland first minister Arlene Foster has said she received online abuse from an IRA supporter wishing the terrorist group had killed her father during the Troubles after she tried to ban “glorification of terrorism”.
Baroness Foster of Aghadrumsee said she received a social media message in March referring to the incident in 1979, after she tried to get the Government to change its Crime and Policing Bill to include stronger rules on banning the support for terror activities.
Lady Foster said the amendment was necessary in response to a lack of prosecutions under existing laws, despite a “growing glorification of terrorism and terrorists”.
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The former Democratic Unionist Party leader also hit out at the break-in of a Church of Ireland Sunday School over Easter, and condemned apparent “complete silence” from Sinn Fein over the graffitiing of the Ten Commandments with the slogan “Up the ‘ra”.
Speaking in the House of Lords on Thursday, the non-affiliated peer, who had two spells as the leader of Northern Ireland, said: “I know the minister and many in this House recognise that this is a growing issue, and if there was any doubt of the fact that it is very much a real and live issue, a brief glimpse at my social media feeds after report stage in this House would confirm this to be the case.
“One particularly brazen poster said that he ‘wished the ‘provos had killed your Dad when they attacked him, up the ‘ra’.
“Of course that’s a reference to the attempted murder of my father by the IRA in 1979. That, of course, is something I have become quite resilient to, but (it) is entirely unacceptable that people can glorify terrorism as a way to make change happen.”
The online message referred to the shooting of Lady Foster’s father, a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) reservist, by the IRA. She and her family had to move house as a result.
Lady Foster also referred to a break-in of a Church of Ireland Sunday School in Newtownbutler earlier this month, where vandals graffitied “Up the ‘Ra” over the Ten Commandments.
She said: “There was silence, complete silence, from the political wing of the IRA, in other words Sinn Fein. Nothing from their local representatives, and nothing from the self-appointed First Minister for all.”
Lady Foster added: “There’s a definite need to deal with the issue of glorification of terrorism, it has real consequences for young people being into extremism and thinking that terrorism is somehow cool and edgy, rather than learning about the fact that it leads to division, pain and hurt, mostly to their neighbours.
“I have to say the radicalisation of children should be something that we’re all concerned about in this House.”
The former first minister did not push her amendment to a vote in the House of Lords, as peers look to pass the Bill.
Instead ministers have offered a review of existing laws around the issue by the Government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation Jonathan Hall KC.
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