Cathaoirleach éirígí (Chairperson) Brian Leeson has accused the Sunday World of ‘wilfully missing the point’ in relation to its coverage of the upcoming controversial British Army event in the K Club. Reacting to an article in yesterday’s (16 September) edition of the Irish News and Media publication Leeson said: 'Yesterday’s article in the Sunday World was as inaccurate as it was predictable. Instead of addressing the legitimate concerns of those who are opposed to the inclusion of the British Army at the K Club event, the Sunday World willfully missed the point and instead did what it always does and ran with sensationalist, inaccurate headlines.

"On behalf of éirígí I want to refute in the strongest possible terms the suggestion that our party is in some way ‘targeting’ the Jack and Jill Foundation. In fact nothing could be further from the truth. éirígí fully supports the great work that the Jack and Jill Foundation does in providing assistance to seriously sick children and their families. We commend without reservation the paid staff, volunteers and donors who have done so much to help so many families over the last fifteen years. And we call on the Dublin government to provide full funding to the Jack and Jack and Foundation to enable it to focus on care provision without having to divert its limited resources into fundraising.

"It is therefore as supporters of the Jack and Jill Foundation that éirígí has raised serious concerns about the appearance of the British Army at a fundraising event for the charity. It is simply not acceptable for an Irish children’s charity to use the British Army, who have been responsible for the deaths of countless children in Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan, to raise funds for its operations. It is distasteful, offensive and divisive. Over the last forty years dozens of children have been killed by Britain’s force in Ireland and yet not one soldier or RUC member has been brought before the courts in relation to their murders."

Leeson concluded by calling on the Jack and Jill Foundation to reformat the K Club event. "The decision to invite the British Army to Kildare was a highly political one, motivated by the hidden agenda of the Security and Emergency Services Ireland Forum. Co-opting the Jack and Jill Foundation into the venture was a deeply cynical manoeuvre, using the cover of seriously sick children and their families to rehabilitate the rightly tarnished image of the British Army in Ireland.

"We urge the Jack and Jill Foundation to consider the feelings of the parents and siblings of those who have lost their children at the hands of the British Army.

"It is morally wrong for an organisation that has killed Irish children to raise funds for the benefit of other Irish children. We call on the board of the charity to remove their great organisation from the political arena, to protect the integrity and respect that it currently enjoys. It is not too late to re-format the K Club event, replacing the British Army with a non-offensive alternative.

"Finally we stand by our call to others who are opposed to the British Army K Club event to get in touch with the Jack and Jill Foundation and let them know how they feel. True friends of the charity will speak up if they believe it has made a bad decision in relation to the K Club event. For our part we will continue to resist all attempts to ‘normalise’ the presence of the British Army in Kildare or any other Irish county."

éirígí is an Ireland-wide, socialist republican political party, formed in 2006 to provide a vehicle for the national, social and economic liberation of the people of Ireland.