People have shared their outrage over a New York Times crossword puzzle clue with RTE’s Joe Duffy.
The crossword featured the name of a controversial cocktail.
RTE’s Liveline received a call today about a crossword puzzle that featured in Sunday’s New York Times.
The clue for the answer was “Irish” followed by a blank space and “cocktail served on St Paddy’s Day”.
“The answer is a car bomb, believe it or not,” host Joe Duffy said.
“I’ve no idea what a car bomb cocktail is.”
The caller who noticed this, Alice O’Brien, had lost her sister, brother-in-law and two nieces in the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan Bombings. She had also never heard of this cocktail before.
“I think it's a disgrace. When you think of it, it’s coming up to it the anniversary of the bombings in 1974 in Dublin and Monaghan and look at all the car bombs that went off in Northern Ireland.
“Then we have the Ukraine war going on and they put this in a crossword? It's a disgrace,” she told Duffy.
Speaking about the loss of her family, Alice said: “It’s hard enough to take but then when you're reading some crossword and they put in this drink called car bomb, it’s an absolute disgrace.”
Frank Gilespie, who owns a bar in Boston, said that the Irish Car Bomb cocktail was popular among young people.
“I suppose a lot of the younger crowd I see here doing it are probably not aware of the situation or they probably never delved into the tragedy of the car bomb,” he said.
The drink can be made in a few different ways, but some variations include a shot of Irish cream and whiskey dropped into a glass of stout.
Duffy himself weighed in on this controversial name and said: “Calling it the Irish Car Bomb reminds people that the car bomb was almost unique to the Irish conflict, used initially by the IRA then used by the UVF/British collaborators or whatever.
“You don’t have to go a week when there's not a family, including Alice’s family there, remembering somebody who was killed in a car bomb but did no one ever say why is it called an Irish Car Bomb?”
Margaret Urwin of the Justice for the Forgotten group, who campaign for the truth and justice for the victims of the Dublin and Monaghan Bombings, said: “This has taken me by surprise. I think it is very offensive, very insensitive and, indeed, it could be said to be racist."
However, she also said that there are bigger matters at hand. “I suppose at the end of the day, it is a crossword. We have far more serious concerns than to worry too much about a crossword clue.
“The families are waiting for the gardai to co-operate with Operation Denton.
“At the moment, that’s of far more concern to us. There's a huge delay in cooperation,” she said.
The cocktail, which is also known as a Belfast Car Bomb, is available in a number of pubs across the US and even the world, with one caller having spotted it in Estonia.
Alice O’Brien is calling for an apology. She said: “They should change the name. There is no need for that. We had enough people killed for them to be slagged off for the name.”
Get breaking news to your inbox by signing up to our newsletter.
