DUBLIN, Ireland, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond annoyed politicians in Northern Ireland Friday when he compared Scotland's independence fight with Ireland's.
Salmond gave an interview with the Irish broadcaster RTE while he was on a visit to Dublin for a British-Irish Council summit, The Scotsman reported. He suggested Scotland faces the kind of situation Ireland did before the country gained independence.
"I am sure, as many people in Ireland will remember, that sometimes people in leadership positions in big countries find it very difficult not to bully small countries," he said. "Of course, what we have seen -- as everybody knows -- over the last week is the most extraordinary attempt to intimidate Scotland by Westminster politicians."
William Trimble, the former Northern Ireland first minister and Ulster Unionist leader, who is now Baron Trimble, called Salmond's remarks "grandstanding in spades." Seamus Mallon, a moderate nationalist, said Scottish soldiers supported the British effort in Ireland after World War I and in Northern Ireland in the more recent Troubles.
"Scotland was part of the bullying that took place in Ireland. People from Scotland were the cornerstone of the plantation of Ulster," Mallon said. "I think Alex is a very able performer, but his knowledge of history is a little weak."
