Southside councillor calls on French ambassador to apologise to Irish Liverpool FC fans

Dublin Bay South Fine Gael Cllr, James Geoghegan, says he has written to the French ambassador in Ireland demanding an apology on behalf of the thousands of Irish Liverpool Fans who attended the Champions League Final on Saturday.

“The response from the French Interior Minister to blame innocent Liverpool fans for being teargassed and crushed, including women and children, is reminiscent of how Thatcher’s government initially reacted to the Hillsborough tragedy,” councillor Geoghegan said.

He also sais he has ‘personally heard from several fans living in his constituency’ who travelled to the final, and say that it was the quick thinking by fans which prevented heavy-handed security causing tragedy.

“At Euro 2016, Irish soccer fans from Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland were awarded the Medal of the City of Paris by its Mayor for our exemplary sportsmanship.

“The French Minister is pointing the finger directly at the very same people that its capital rightly celebrated just a few a years ago.

“The independent inquiry by UEFA is welcome, but we don’t need an investigation to conclude that tear-gassing Jason McAteer’s wife and son along with countless others was indefensible.”

The Fine Gael councillor, who is a Man Utd fan, says that France has ‘insulted all Irish soccer supporters’ and ‘tarred all Liverpool supporters with the same brush’ to cover up for their own failings and dangerous policing.

“I will be putting down a motion at our next Dublin City Council area meeting in June asking the Lord Mayor to write to the Mayor of Paris expressing the upset both the events and the aftermath has caused to the very fans her city honoured not so long ago.

“I have already written to the French Ambassador to Dublin asking him to intervene and communicate to his government the many thousands of decent fans who feel badly let down by the events of Saturday and how they have been treated since.”