The Times (London) 
June 29, 1999, Tuesday 

Diary 
By: Jasper Gerard 

NOW the IRA has threatened the rock chick Sinead O'Connor. She has pulled out of a 
festival after receiving a sinister letter from Sinn Fein's "publicist" and retired 
kidnapper, Danny Morrison. 
He opines that her (seemingly uncontroversial) opposition to punishment beatings "would 
neither be helpful to the festival organisers or to Sinead's reputation". (How so?) 
My new heroine Sinead says she refuses to be "a poster girl for the IRA". "I am a protest 
singer. They booked me to be a puppet and a mouthpiece for the republican movement and to 
give credibility to terrorism." Good girl. 

Copyright 1999 Times Newspapers Limited.