BREAKING: Kildare racecourse was 'unintentionally' drawn into war controversy

Naas Racecourse was unintentionally drawn into the war in Ukraine by permitting an commemorative event there on Sunday last.

Up to 1,000 people, mainly though not all from Russia, attended the event to mark the victory by the then Soviet army over Nazi Germany towards the close of the second World War.

Clarifying the background to the event - which attracted some negative reaction on social media - racecourse manager Eamonn McEvoy said the facility is made available to community groups whenever possible and “this is always done on a good faith basis.”

Mr McEvoy said that some week ago he was contacted by someone who had previously used the facility seeking to host an eastern European community  family day.

As there was no race meeting on the calendar the request was granted - as it is for many public events including, sometimes, concerts.

In the week leading up to the event the gardaí were independently in touch to liaise about the event and confirmed they were satisfied to let it proceed. The gardaí were also present at the event.

“There were about 400 to 500 people in attendance, many of them families. I attended personally throughout the day, spoke to those who had gathered and am very satisfied that those in attendance came from a range of countries throughout the former Soviet bloc and were there to commemorate the end of World War 2 – many with photos of their family members who had served in the war,” added Mr McEvoy.

However, he added, while there were flags of many nations on display, as well as historical flags from the WW2 era, there was an unexpected number of Russian flags on display. “Notwithstanding that Russian flags are not ‘banned’ in Ireland (or sanctioned in any way) I fully understand the negative reaction of a number of people given the invasion and  continuing war in Ukraine.”

A statement on behalf of Mr McEvoy noted the event was entirely peaceful and the organisers have assured me they are in no way linked to current Russian state activities. 

“It is very hard to anticipate or take preventative action against offensive emblems, flags or banners or to regulate behaviour at events which are not in our control or direction. Naas Racecourse was inadvertently drawn into highly sensitive geopolitical events and for that I would like to apologise to anyone who was offended by it.”

He said the racecourse will continue to be available to community groups on a good faith basis and “we will develop protocols for future events to work with our community groups to prevent such controversy in the future.”

Read more Kildare news