MANCHESTER'S Irish community have said Muslims in the city may face some hostility following Monday’s terror attack, but say the wider community will “rally” around them as they did following the IRA bombing of the city in 1996.
The attack at the Manchester Arena, which left least 22 dead and scores more injured, comes almost 21 years after a 3,000lb IRA bomb destroyed Manchester city centre.
The huge explosion in 1996 caused damage estimated at around £700 million. Miraculously, no one was killed, but 212 were injured by debris that flew half a mile from where the device was planted.
In the aftermath of the bombing – which kick-started a huge redevelopment project in the city centre – Manchester’s Irish community faced “hostility” from certain quarters, but ultimately were supported by the city’s residents who had long embraced Irish immigrants who have a long tradition with the city.
It is estimated that around 35 per cent of residents have Irish ancestry.
Brian Kennedy, operations manager of the city’s Irish World Heritage Centre, who has lived in Manchester since the height of the Troubles, said he recalled “vile” comments were aimed at Irish residents of Manchester by some.
But he said the wider comments of support are what lingers in his memory more than two decades later.
And he believes that same positive spirit will be offered to the Muslim community which, according to the 2011 census, make up around eight per cent of the population of Greater Manchester.
“You will always get some people who want to blame an entire community for something done by a small minority,” said Mr Kennedy, whose family hails from Co Donegal.
“Like the Irish, most of the Muslims here just want to work and get on with their lives. After the 1996 bombing, despite vile comments from some quarters, people rallied around the Irish community. We were very concerned about the reaction we would get at the St Patrick’s parade the following March, but they welcomed us with open arms.”
He added: “I think things are going to be difficult at first for local Muslims, but they will be supported. Where we are based there is a huge Muslim community, and they use our centre all the time.”
Meanwhile the chairman of Fullen Gaels CLG, one of around 13 GAA clubs in Manchester, said the city – including its Islamic community – would present a “united front” in the wake of this week’s slaughter.
“The anger will mean some (Muslims) are guilty by association and are tarred with the same brush as the extremists behind this attack,” said chairman Stan Murray-Hession, who is originally from Dublin, and whose team’s players include a relative of West Belfast MP Paul Maskey.
“I recall also the feelings vented in Liverpool after the IRA threat at Aintree in 1997 that led to the evacuation of the Grand National.
“Yet there will be a united front in Manchester in the face of such terrorism, and the Muslim community will be a part of that front. That is the spirit of this wonderful city – we will not back down in the face of terror, and we never have.”
