Prince Andrew ‘smoothed over’ a gaffe by Lord Mandelson in which the then Northern Ireland Secretary asked whether TV presenter Patrick Kielty’s father had been in the IRA, newly released papers reveal today.
The comedian’s builder father Jack was shot dead by loyalist paramilitaries in 1988 after refusing to pay protection money.
Kielty later told how his grieving family had to rebuff efforts by the Republican terrorist group to recruit him and his teenage brother for ‘revenge’, telling them ‘in no uncertain terms where to go’.
But at a charity event in 2000 compered by Kielty, who now presents RTÉ’s The Late Late Show, Peter Mandelson – as he then was – asked ‘loudly’ if his father ‘had been a member of the IRA’, according to the archives released by Dublin.
His comment led to an ‘awkward silence’ which was resolved by a somewhat uncharacteristic diplomatic intervention from the Duke of York, according to papers uncovered by Irish historian Prof Marie Coleman.
Prince Andrew meeting members of the Corrs during the 2000 Co-operation Ireland charity event – held at the Albert Hall in London
At the event Lord Mandelson asked ‘loudly’ whether compere Patrick Kielty’s father had been in the IRA
Comedian Patrick Kielty with his wife, Cat Deeley, at an event in Los Angeles
Prince Andrew ‘smoothed over the moment by remarking that there could hardly be a family in Northern Ireland that was untouched by the conflict’, they record.
During the Co-operation Ireland charity event – held at the Albert Hall in London – Lord Mandelson was in a ‘strange, almost detached, mood’, according to the state papers.
He was also said to have embarrassed then Northern Ireland First Minister David Trimble by mixing up major Belfast employers Harland & Wolff and Shorts.
By contrast, the Duke ‘appeared more knowledgeable than the Secretary of State about industrial policy on Northern Ireland’, the papers said.
‘David Trimble was trying to use the example of Jack Kielty’s death to illustrate the impact of the Troubles on so many families and intended to elicit sympathy for Patrick Kielty,’ Prof Coleman, of Queen’s University Belfast, told .
‘But Mandelson misinterpreted the situation causing much embarrassment to Trimble.
‘Prince Andrew by contrast understood what Trimble was getting at and his mollifying comment rescued an awkward situation.’
The event is recounted in a letter dated April 10, 2000 from then Irish Ambassador to the UK Ted Barrington to Dermot Nally at the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs.
Kielty was not part of the conversation, and the archives do not record whether he was aware of the gaffe.
Mr Mandelson – who was made a peer in 2004 – succeeded Mo Mowlam in Tony Blair’s Cabinet in 1999, tasked with implementing the Good Friday Agreement, signed the year before.
According to the 13,200 files just released by the National Archives of Ireland, Irish diplomats viewed him as an unknown quantity as he had made few public comments relating to Northern Ireland before being appointed to the role.
Jack Kielty was shot dead by loyalist paramilitaries in 1988 after refusing to pay protection money. Pictured is Patrick carrying his coffin at the funeral
Jack, a building contractor, was murdered in 1988 at the age of 44
He later caused dissatisfaction in Dublin due to his stance over negotiations relating to the name and badge for the province’s new police force, replacing the Royal Ulster Constabulary, which was distrusted by Catholics.
Lord Mandelson, now 70, resigned following the ‘cash for passports’ scandal in 2001.
He was alleged to have helped Indian tycoon Srichand Hinduja win British citizenship after he and his brothers donated £1million towards the construction of London’s Millennium Dome – now called The O2.
An inquiry later found there had been no improper link, however he never returned to the Blair cabinet.
Earlier this year Kielty, now 52 and married to fellow TV presenter Cat Deeley, recalled how the IRA tried to recruit him following his father’s killing in his home village of Dundrum, Co Down.
‘At the time of my dad’s death, there were thousands of armed paramilitaries and it would’ve been easy for me to pick up a gun myself,’ he told a BBC documentary.
‘My dad’s brother had been approached in the graveyard by the IRA to say, ‘Look, we could probably use a couple of good smart strong strapping lads like those Kielty lads if they’re interested in revenge’.
‘They were told in no uncertain terms where to go.’
Recalling how he was called to his headteacher’s office to be told about the shooting, Kielty said: ‘Rather than pay protection money to loyalist paramilitaries he decided to go to the police.’