Are you sure about what you saw, Hillary?
Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was awarded an honorary doctorate at Queen’s University Belfast on Wednesday for her work in the US and around the world as well as her contribution to the peace process in Northern Ireland.
At a ceremony in Belfast, she urged the politicians of Northern Ireland to put their differences aside and come together because “Northern Ireland has been a symbol to people of democracy.”
She stated her belief that the world needs it as democracies around the world are facing a backlash at this moment.
But she also spoke about one of her “most vivid memories of the entire eight years in the White House”, which happened to be her visit to Northern Ireland along with Bill, who was President of the US at the time.
Have a look at the clip below, which was shared by BBC journalist Darran Marshall, who pointed out some problems with her speech.
"One of the most vivid memories of the entire eight years in the White House." – @HillaryClinton says she arrived at Belfast's Europa hotel – "to see windows boarded up & parts of the hotel uninhabitable because of recent bombings." pic.twitter.com/hinwrEy7sv
— Darran Marshall (@DarranMarshall) October 10, 2018
Hillary claims that they arrived at the Belfast’s Europa Hotel (a regular target during the Troubles) in 1995 to see windows boarded up and parts of building uninhabitable because of recent bombings.
However, the Belfast Europa Hotel had undergone an extensive £8 million in 1994 redevelopment (over a year prior to the Clinton visit) following the last Provisional IRA bomb in 1993.
She made a similar claim during a speech in Belfast in 2009. At that time, the Belfast Telegraph reported a concierge at the hotel during the Clinton’s stay said he had “no memories” of any boards at the hotel then.
Martin Mulholland said: “The hotel was spotless. There had been no bombs and there was no scaffolds or wooden boards or anything like that when they came.
“The place was spotless. The only security or boards that went up were the ones put up by Bill Clinton’s secret service team.”
A spokesperson for Clinton clarified her comments at the time in The Telegraph, stating that she had been trying to express a sincere “perception” of a Belfast in darker days.
“I think what Secretary Clinton was trying to do was draw contrasts between contemporary Belfast, which I know has changed hugely from the Belfast of 1995,” her spokesman said.
“Secretary Clinton was simply contrasting. The place she had in her mind still had quite a bit of tension.
“That was what she was trying to note — that there has been a real change since 1995 when there was real desire for change among mothers, fathers and children.”
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
