Charity shamed over link to killer regiment

An Irish children’s charity has been inundated with complaints after it engaged a unit of a murderous British Army regiment to take part in a charity fundraiser.

Last Friday saw the Irish Guards regimental band take part in the event organised by the ‘Jack and Jill foundation’ at a five-star resort in County Kildare.

The event was organised by the Security and Emergency Services Ireland Forum [SESIF], an organisation which promotes the British forces across the island of Ireland. It took place on Friday at the K-Club, a top country club which serves as a playground for Ireland’s wealthy.

The Irish Guards are notorious for their involvement in in British Army atrocities overseas, resulting in the deaths of scores of innocent civilians, including children. Their involvement in the charity event formed part of a public relations campaign aimed at rehabilitating the image of British Army in Ireland.

But the event drew opposition from many organisations and individuals opposed to the use of British troops for such purposes, and brought messages of condemnation from around the world.

Republican socialist group Eirigi said the charity and supporters in the mainstream media had acted as “apologists” for the British Army.

“Not one of them had anything to say about the children and adults that have died at the hands of the British Army,” the group said in a statement.

“They chose not to address the issue because it is quite simply impossible to justify the unjustifiable.”

It pointed to a track record of destruction, brutality and murder, listing incidents in Ireland, Iraq, Afghanistan, Kenya, and elsewhere,

Éirígí’s chairman Brian Leeson said it had called off a protest out of respect for the charity and its goals, but it continued to call on the Jack and Jill Foundation to reconsider their fundraising campaign and “the concept of using an army that has killed Irish children to raise funds for an Irish children’s charity.”

Urgent Appeal