Father of boy killed by IRA bomb 'surprised' by controversy over rugby fans singing Zombie

Vivienne Clarke

The father of a 12-year-old boy who was killed in the Warrington bombing has expressed surprise at the controversy surrounding fans singing The Cranberries' song Zombie following Ireland's win over South Africa at the Rugby World Cup in Paris on Saturday.

Colin Parry, father of Tim Parry who died in the 1993 bombing, told Newstalk Breakfast that when the song was first released he thought it was a peace song calling for people to turn away from violence.

"It came as a surprise that there was a suggestion that it was being used in some other sort of sectarian way, which I couldn't really understand," Mr Parry said.

He added that he had not known the song was about the Warrington bombing until after Dolores O’Riordan's death when he started getting asked to comment about the song.

"It was only then. I had never heard it, and I had to actually read the words because obviously, as is often the case, as a song is being sung, you can't necessarily pick up the nuances."

However, he added: "Having read the words themselves, I was convinced it was a call for peace after the Warrington bombing. It’s as simple as that for me."

Asked how he felt about the song being adopted by rugby supporters, he replied: "If it's a song they sing because they simply like the tune and they like the singing of it, then I don't see the song being controversial. I don't have a problem with that at all.

"I think the other recent outburst of 'Up the RA' stuff that was going on is more of a concern because there's no ambiguity about what that's about."

Mr Parry said he would be more concerned if the singing of the song were to "stoke the fires of the past".

"It's about time that when young people start to sing these things, that they try and realise just the historic significance of these sort of songs and how divisive they are," he added.