Flag waving exercises by the British military in two of the Celtic countries in the past few months have ended up in a bit of a shambles after serious allegations were made against service personnel involved.

Last month the Royal Navy patrol vessel, HMS Mersey, visited Cork as part of a two port visit to Ireland.

The event got off to a somewhat inauspicious start as police, including armed Special Branch officers, had to be deployed to defend the vessel. In addition Irish naval vessels patrolled the river in the environs of the ships berth.

However, despite the meticulous planning to ensure that nothing marred the visit, it seems it was the personnel themselves that caused the greatest disruption as a result of which one of their number appeared in court on September 1st charged with assault causing harm to a female Garda and with engaging in threatening and abusive behaviour.

Meanwhile a ceremony to `confer the freedom of the Borough' by the town of Douglas, on the Isle of Man, staged in August of this year was marred somewhat when a visiting serviceman was charged with rape.

In both the Irish and Manx cases the service personnel were bailed and will answer the allegations in Court at a later date.

Media link Ireland: (voir le site)

Media link Isle of Man: (voir le site)

J B Moffatt (Mr)

Director of Information

Celtic League

08/10/10