Anti-immigration activists “disgraced the Irish flag” by joining “loyalist gangs” at violent demonstrations in Belfast over the weekend.
That is according to CorkBeo Editor John O'Shea, who was speaking after rioters took to the streets of Northern Ireland for a second night on Monday with footage showing petrol bombs and missiles being thrown at police.
Around a dozen people wearing balaclavas and masks threw petrol bombs at PSNI vehicles as riot officers formed lines.
Taoiseach Simon Harris has since criticised the use of the Tricolour by some of the protestors who he said were "trying to sow hate, racism and division in both jurisdictions on the island".
Mr Harris spoke with Northern Ireland's First Minister Michelle O’Neill on Sunday where he expressed "disgust" at those flying the Tricolour while attacking police.
"This is repugnant to everything the Irish flag represents," he said.
Mr O'Shea told Lunchtime Live loyalist gangs were involved in the protests.
"We saw the true colours of our so-called patriots - or faketriots - over the weekend," he said.
"I think a lot of Irish people were disgusted to see that.
"I think it actually revealed the true colours of these gangs, of these people".
Mr O'Shea said the Tricolour is being misused frequently.
"In recent months, we've seen our flag carried, wrapped around the shoulders of people throwing bricks at Gardaí," he said.
"We've seen it wrapped around the shoulders of people cheering the repeated arson of buildings in our communities.
"We've seen it wrapped around the shoulders of people who scream abuse at people for no other reason than they're not the same colour as them."
Mr O'Shea said he believes the Tricolour is "being taken back in a good way" by Team Ireland athletes at the Olympics.
"I think what we're seeing now, thankfully, with the Olympics is what we really want to see, [which is] our flag and our nation represented with the athletes in Paris," he said.
'Our flag was disgraced'
Meanwhile, former Defence Forces member Michael told the show that the flag can mean different things to different people.
"I think we have to be careful about some of those who criticise the people on the street today who are protesting and using the flag," he said.
"Our flag was disgraced for about 30 years in a terrorist campaign in Northern Ireland where it was used on the coffins of people who were mass murderers.
"For those number of years, the flag itself was brought into fierce disgrace - after the peace negotiations, it got some respectability again.
"It's great to see what the flag should be used for - in such things like the Olympics and in State ceremonies - that's what it's for".
A crowd of people with an Irish Tricolour gathered outside the former ESB offices on East Wall Road in Dublin in November 2022. Picture by: Sam Boal / RollingNews.ieMichael said the Tricolour was seen as a 'symbol of hatred' during the Troubles.
"The flag has been abused by many people on the far-left, on the far-right and by many others for many years - it's not something new," he said.
"It is something to show off with pride, not something to be used or abused for a particular political purpose.
"If you look at it during the Troubles in Northern Ireland it became a symbol of hatred for half the population up there.
"That is something that we as a nation should be trying to recover from - and certainly the abuse of the flag by anybody only increases hatred rather than diminishes it".
'That doesn't make sense'
Independent Kerry TD Michael Healy-Rae told the show nobody can claim the flag as their own.
"Protest is fine, protest is great and I love meeting people coming to the gates of Dáil Éireann raising concerns," he said.
"That's very, very important in a democracy but it doesn't marry up with people protesting with balaclavas on their faces and... using the Tricolour in a way that it only belongs to them and nobody else.
[To] the people with the balaclava on them, if you believe in what you're protesting about, I don't understand why you have to wear a balaclava and why you'd be ashamed [and] cover your face.
"That doesn't make sense, it doesn't stand to reason".
Deputy Healy-Rae said the use of the flag at such protests 'devalues the status' of it.
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