Sinn Féin spokesperson on Foreign Affairs and Defence John Brady TD has offered his congratulations to the people and Government of Barbados on the occasion of their declaration as a republic.

The Wicklow TD said:

“I have written to the Bajan Ambassador to Britain, which covers the Island’s diplomatic relationship to Ireland, to congratulate the people of Barbados on the historic occasion of their declaration as a republic.

“The event has severed their association with the British Monarchy, 400 years after the English first colonised the Island.

“The shameful spectre of slavery hangs over the legacy of the British across the Caribbean.

“From the 17th to the 19th century, Barbados became the destination for thousands of Africans kidnapped in their native land and transferred in slave ships, in horrific conditions, to provide the free labour that drove the colonial sugar plantations.

“Barbados also became the destination for thousands of Irish, shipped to the Island in Cromwellian times, as the English sought to clear the land for plantation and enslaved thousands of dispossessed Irish for their new sugar plantations.

“The occasion of the formation of the new republic offers new opportunities for Barbados as the Island nation becomes the master of their own fate.

“I wish every success to this new republic, to its government, its new president, and above all – to the people of Barbados.”