Martin Apologises Over Chinese Impression

Leader of Fianna Fail Michael Martin has issued an apology for impersonating a Chinese accent during a meeting in Dublin yesterday morning.

During a Breakfast Briefing' at the Dublin Web Summit were he was speaking about his innovation and enterprise policies, Mr Martin said: "Whenever I met Chinese ministers or officials, particularly as enterprise minister, there was one sort of overriding refrain from them or demand. And they kept on saying to me, [in a faux-Chinese accent] 'You Irish, very good at software'.

Clips of the gaffe were recorded by Today FM and have been circulated online since the meeting, with links posted on Twitter, YouTube and elsewhere.

In an apologetic statement issued last night, Mr Martin said he had made a comment "in a manner which I shouldn't have".

"I was making a serious point about how Ireland is seen in the world as a leader in software. If anyone was in any way offended, I of course apologise."

The Minister said he didn’t mean to offend anyone, and conceded that it was inappropriate to mimic the accent.

Coincidentally, U2 frontman Bono also became embroiled in allegations of racism on Sunday night at the beginning of the band's South African tour.

For the second time in a week, the band was criticised by South Africa's white community after the lead singer sang lyrics from a controversial anti-apartheid song, which includes the words "shoot the Boer". The Boer are South African farmers of Dutch descent, and the term has spread to include elements of their wider community.

The song prompted sustained debate after the murder of Eugene Terreblanche, a white separatist leader who was hacked to death on his farm, allegedly by two farm workers.

(DW)