The Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble, yesterday criticised the reaction to his recent comments on the Republic and said he had obviously touched on some "sore points".
On his first visit to the State since he described it as "pathetic, sectarian, mono-ethnic [and] mono-cultural", Mr Trimble said the response to his observations had included a "remarkable amount of personal abuse".
"That, I think, is perhaps an indication of something. I'm not quite sure what it is, but the visceral nature of the response is an indication that there were at least some sore points that were touched on," he said.
"I'll be interested, when the dust settles down, to see if people here in the Republic can be more forthcoming as to just what those sore points were."
Mr Trimble was in Waterford to receive a peace award from the St Angela's peace and justice group, made up of students in the city's Ursuline secondary school. He told journalists his statement should be looked at in context. "I was positing two different alternatives. I wasn't talking about Northern Ireland. I was talking about the Republic on one hand, and the rest of the United Kingdom on the other hand.
"A lot of the comment I have seen from commentators here said 'oh but, things in Northern Ireland are not ideal'. I know they're not ideal. I'm very, very well aware of the difficulties we have, very well aware of the sectarianism that exists within society in Northern Ireland."
He stopped short, however, of agreeing that his comments about the Republic could equally apply to the North. There was "an element of truth" in that "but we are not mono-cultural", he said. "That's not to say we are multi-cultural. We have many cultures, unfortunately they are slightly in conflict at the moment."
Asked if he considered it statesmanlike for a First Minister to make such comments about a neighbouring jurisdiction, he said: "I was making a political speech, in a political context, against the background of the tradition that exists in my part of the world of vigorous debate.
"We are quite accustomed to that debate. I am also very much conscious of the way in which, in terms of implementing the (Belfast) Agreement and carrying forward all its elements, we are obviously trying to make a difference. But we're not denying the differences that exist, and I think it 's foolish to try to do so."
He had no problems, he said, accepting a peace award from a Catholic school in the Republic. "If they are prepared to offer me an award, I am very prepared to accept it. It's the sort of thing I would be very happy to encourage," he said.
Mr Trimble, who was in light-hearted humour, said the first honorary degree he had received was from Boston College, which was a Jesuit foundation. "And unlike here, when I was in Boston College, and this was 18 months ago, there was a little crowd of protesters outside."
He was disappointed, he claimed, that there were no protesters in Waterford.
He had wanted to get himself photographed beside a protester in Boston who, he was told, had a plarcard saying "Who's Next? Cromwell?"
Mr Des Purcell, a spokesman for the peace and justice group, said they were "delighted and very honoured" to receive Mr Trimble.
