An under-fire Waterford TD is refusing to apologise for using the phrase 'up the Ra' in a speech Sunday night.
David Cullinane made the comments in a celebration event in the city, after he was re-elected to the Dáil.
He shouted the words 'Up the Republic, Up the Ra, Tiochfaidh ár Lá' at the end of his victory speech.
"First of all I was talking about Bobby Sands, I was talking about people who, in my constituency, stood for the H Block candidate Kevin Lynch back in 1981.
"I'm never one who will distance myself from Sinn Féin's past, from the IRA's past. I don't agree with everything the IRA did, of course"
"I don't think you could go into a pub anywhere in Ireland where those songs aren't sung. People can pass judgement on the history of the IRA, pass judgement on the history of all of that.
"It is up to the British state to commemorate its dead, it is obviously up to Irish people to commemorate our dead.
"Many people would commemorate the Easter Rising, for example."
