A NEWSPAPER circulated to tens of thousands of prisoners in British jails has been criticised by an Irish welfare group for carrying a series of anti-Irish jokes in two recent editions.
The newspaper, Inside Times , carried two jokes submitted by prisoners in its September issue, and then dismissed complaints from Irish prisoners in its October issue, when it carried a third joke.
One joke reads: “A condemned man sat in the electric chair awaiting his execution, but there was a fault. They called in Paddy the electrician to try and sort out the problems. After two hours, he still hadn’t found it and told the Governor, ‘This thing is a bloody death-trap.’â€
A second read: “An Irishman goes for a job on a building site. The boss asks, ‘Can you brew tea?’ Yes, he says. The boss then asks, ‘Can you drive a fork-lift?’ ‘Why, how big is the tea-pot?’†Describing the jokes as “deeply offensiveâ€, an Irish prisoner wrote to the newspaper to complain they implied Irishmen “are basically stupidâ€, and asked if similar jokes would have been directed at black people or Muslims.
In reply, the newspaper quoted the late Irish comedian Dave Allen who once said: “You might as well laugh at yourself once in a while – everyone else does.†This, the newspaper said, was “sound advice at any timeâ€.
The newspaper, run by a charity, the Newbridge Foundation, and circulated to 46,000 prisoners through prison libraries, could fuel anti-Irish prejudice in jails, said Conor McGinn of the London-based Irish Council for Prisoners Overseas.
The publication of the first jokes was “shocking enoughâ€, said Mr McGinn, but “the editor’s response to my and Irish prisoners’ complaints was absolutely disgraceful. I have since been in contact with Inside Times and they are unrepentant. They have said the jokes weren’t racist and that ‘someone always has to be the butt of the joke’, but were unable to provide a single incidence of another ethnic minority community being targeted in this way.â€
Denying the paper had been racist, Inside Time operations director John Roberts said he had asked Mr McGinn to write to him to explain “so that we can see exactly what the issue isâ€. “We do not do anything with a view to offending people. Obviously, it isn’t our intention to do so,†said Mr Roberts, who is married to an Irishwoman.
“The whole object is to make peole’s lives easier in prison.â€
