I really think some of you have gone way over the top on this one.
We have lived here for ten years and have been visiting the area for nearly forty.
We came here right through the worst of the troubles, saw the black flags hanging out in the street when the hunger strikers were dying, and spent time at Mullabawn with that huge monstrosity of a watchtower looming over the town and the British helicopters monitoring the activities of the householders with their surveillance equipment. Never once throughout that time have we ever felt anything other than welcome.
What the Cap'n described was banter - pure and simple.
Personally, I regard such comments (and the freedom I have to make them myself) as an acknowledgment that we are part of the community and would be extremely unhappy if we were left out of it.
I can imagine that if I felt in any way insecure and less than welcome living here I might take offence at what was said - as it is, I feel completely at home.
Who knows, maybe things are different in his part of the world, but I'm afraid the phrase 'fart in a thunderstorm' keeps creeping into my mind!
Must go - have a session to attend in town
Jim Carroll