De Rossa "Sat On" after Labour party Meeting

national | politics / elections | news report Tuesday April 15, 2008 14:57 by garryowen

Scuffle after Lisbon Treaty Meeting

It has been alleged that Proinsias De Rossa, who is due to retire as MEP for Dublin at the next election, was involved in scuffle outside the Labour Party Meeting at Liberty Hall in Dublin last night. The meeting was to discuss the upcoming Lisbon Treaty referendum.

Reports say that De Rossa tried to take a video camera away from someone who was filming him, in a public place, outside the meeting. In the scuffle he fell and while he was on the ground, somebody sat on him, it is claimed.

Younger readers may not be aware of the the long political journey of Mr De Rossa, who was once a strong supporter of the IRA, and spent time in prison in the 1950's.

De Rossa was politically active in Sinn Féin from an early age, and was interned in the Curragh from 1956 for three years as part of the crackdown on activists involved in the IRA Border Campaign. He had carried the coffin at the funeral of Sean South, the young IRA Volunteer who was killed by the RUC while attacking a police barracks.

Active throught he 1960's, he took the 'Sticky" side in the split of 1970, and supported the Official IRA who carried out bank robberies, extortion and killing of political and military opponents. He was then a member of the Workers Party, then split from them to form his own group, Democratic Left, finally joining the Irish Labour Party, for whom he is an MEP.

De Rossa was the only Irish MEP to vote to support a recent resolution of the European parliament to ignore the result of the Lisbon Treaty referendum if it resulted in a "NO" vote.

While Mr De Rossa is no stranger to supporting political violence against others, he claims that the scuffle he was involved in last night was the worst of his life. He is reportedly still too upset to speak about the incident.

Mr Joe Costello TD , who was at the public meeting, said on RTE radio: "“He was certainly very put out. I never saw him in such bad form that he was really hurt by it al.”