{"id":91154,"date":"2025-09-28T17:38:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T17:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/91154\/"},"modified":"2025-09-28T17:38:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T17:38:14","slug":"jim-gavin-criticises-misuse-of-irish-flag-by-extremes-on-left-or-right-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/91154\/","title":{"rendered":"Jim Gavin criticises \u2018misuse\u2019 of Irish flag by extremes on left or right \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jim Gavin<\/a> has said he is against extremes on the left and the right misusing the Irish flag, but that people are entitled to put it up \u201cwhere they choose to\u201d.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the launch of his presidential campaign<\/a> in Dublin<\/a> on Sunday, Mr Gavin said the flag was \u201cvery precious\u201d to him and the white in the middle was a sign of inclusion. <\/p>\n

In recent weeks, Tricolours have been put up all over Dublin as part of an anti-immigration campaign. It mimics a similar anti-immigration flag campaign in England.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe flag, to me, is very precious,\u201d Mr Gavin said. \u201cThe flag has, in its centre, the white of inclusion and of dignity and respect. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not for extremes, to the right or to the left. I believe in a constitution. I believe in an island that welcomes everybody who\u2019s entitled to be here. So the flag, to me, is very precious and people are entitled to put it up where they choose to.\u201d <\/p>\n

The former Dublin Gaelic football<\/a> manager\u2019s campaign launch was attended by Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a> and a number of members of the Cabinet. Former Dublin footballers including Dean Rock also attended the event in Dublin\u2019s EXO building, along with Mr Gavin\u2019s friends and family. <\/p>\n

In his speech to his supporters, Mr Gavin said that it would be \u201cdeeply wrong to say that the role of the presidency should be closed to people who are not politicians\u201d.<\/p>\n

Against the backdrop of a 15th-floor view of Dublin city, he said the building was an example of a \u201crising Ireland\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut as we look through these windows, we also see communities which are experiencing great challenges, communities which have incredible spirit, strength and potential,\u201d he said. He added that \u201cside by side\u201d, these two different realities are part of modern Ireland. <\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters in advance of Mr Gavin\u2019s campaign launch, the Taoiseach rejected claims by Maria Steen\u2019s supporters that a cohort of the country with traditional Catholic values would not be represented in the election.<\/p>\n

Mr Martin said he thought that was a \u201csubjective sort of comment\u201d, adding: \u201cI wouldn\u2019t agree at all with that assertion.\u201d He noted that Mr Gavin \u201chas very clear views in terms of where modern Irish society is, the importance of family, in the broadest possible sense\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Taoiseach said the procedure for getting nominated to run for the presidency allows people with \u201ca broad basis of support to get nominated. And that\u2019s what has happened on this occasion\u201d. <\/p>\n

Fine Gael\u2019s presidential candidate Heather Humphreys was campaigning in the northeast of the country on Sunday.<\/p>\n

In Cork on Saturday, she expressed her sympathies to a bereaved family who strongly criticised her<\/a> for not doing more after their son was killed by a hit-and-run driver who should have been in jail at the time of the incident.<\/p>\n

Ms Humphreys said her heart went out to the family of Shane O\u2019Farrell (23) after his mother, Lucia, said she was \u201cterribly disappointed\u201d that Ms Humphreys, as her local TD, did not support the family\u2019s campaign for a public inquiry into failings in the criminal justice system surrounding her son\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

While she didn\u2019t respond directly to the criticism, Ms Humphreys said: \u201cI am very familiar with the case . . . and it\u2019s just awful, it really is awful. My heart goes out to them and I\u2019m delightedthey have got a State apology.\u201d<\/p>\n

Catherine Connolly\u2019s presidential campaign was due to hold a fundraising concert for her in the R\u00f3is\u00edn Dubh in Galway on Sunday night. The sold-out event included a performance from Mary Coughlan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jim Gavin has said he is against extremes on the left and the right misusing the Irish flag,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":91155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[1135,7605,56519,9,10,18,13,14,2527,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,27515,59281,7,8,384,1543],"class_list":{"0":"post-91154","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-1135","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-bethpage-state-park","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breakingnews","13":"tag-eire","14":"tag-featured-news","15":"tag-featurednews","16":"tag-golf","17":"tag-headlines","18":"tag-ie","19":"tag-ireland","20":"tag-latest-news","21":"tag-latestnews","22":"tag-main-news","23":"tag-mainnews","24":"tag-news","25":"tag-pa2025","26":"tag-ryder-cup-day-three-bethpage-black-course","27":"tag-top-stories","28":"tag-topstories","29":"tag-united-states","30":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}