Young people should educate themselves about Troubles, says Bertie Ahern after Wolfe Tones draw record crowd

Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said that young people should “educate themselves” about the “ferocious trauma” of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Newstalk Breakfast presenter Shane Coleman on Monday expressed concern after large numbers of people sang the “Ooh, ah, up the Ra” line of the Wolfe Tones’ song Celtic Symphony during a performance by the band at Electric Picnic over the weekend.

Mr Coleman said he is concerned that there is now a “mythology” about the Troubles, where the period from 1969 to 1994 is now viewed as “a kind of glorious war”.

Bertie Ahern told The Hard Shoulder on Newstalk that it was not an issue that got him “too excited”. However, he said that some young people do not know enough about Irish history.

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“A lot of their [The Wolfe Tones’] songs are very republican. They are songs about the past but rather than getting ourselves hung up about a line in a song… I think it beholds us to try and educate them (young people) and explain to them as best we can the facts of what happened during the Troubles.

“About the ferocious trauma that we had from ‘68 on, the fact that 3,700 people were killed, that we had tens of thousands of bombs, shootings that damaged our image all over the world, that tourism was a non-runner, that investment [was] a non-runner for many years.

“So, I’d rather people would see that story and understand the efforts that were made by a lot of people, from Bill Clinton, to George Mitchell, Tony Blair and a lot of others, to try to bring an end to that and move this country in a different direction.

[ Giving voice to the Troubles: How literature has told the North’s story ]

“So, I think it is that education process that I would be far more interested in than worrying about a line of a song.”

The Wolfe Tones drew thousands of revellers to the Electric Arena at Electric Picnic over the weekend. It was the biggest crowd ever to gather at that section of the festival with thousands of fans singing inside and outside of the 10,000 capacity tent.

Wolfe Tones lead songwriter Brian Warfield has previously said that he was not necessarily referring to the Provisional IRA in his lyrics to Celtic Symphony.

Warfield penned the song, which includes the refrain “Ooh ah up the ‘Ra,” in 1987 for the Centenary of Celtic Football Club, which occurred a year later.

He previously told Newstalk that the song is not about IRA glorification.

“When I wrote that song, it was very simple. I was walking through Glasgow and I saw graffiti on the wall and it [said] ‘Up the Celts, Up the Celts’,” Warfield said.

[ ‘Up the ‘Ra’ rings out at Wolfe Tones gig trumpeting a version of Irish history ]

“And then I see ‘Ooh ah up the Ra’ – the people in Glasgow have a right to remember their history and their story.

“There was more people [who] came from Glasgow to Dublin for the 1916 Rising – let’s remember them, they’re the Ra.”