Dominic Monaghan, the actor, has been lambasted for claiming that the IRA did Manchester a “favour” by bombing the city in 1996.
The 33-year-old star of Lord of the Rings and Lost said the blast, which left more than 200 people injured, had helped the city because it led to redevelopment.
The bomb – one of the largest ever detonated in Britain during peacetime – caused more than £700 million damage, leaving a third of the city centre’s retail space devastated.
Repairing the damage and redeveloping the area cost more than £1.2 billion.
In an interview with a Los Angeles radio station, Monaghan, who was raised in Stockport, Manchester, said: “When I was growing up there it was much rougher and then the IRA did one of the greatest favours they have ever done for us – they planted a bomb in the town centre and because of the large Irish contingent living in Manchester, they alerted police and everyone left.
“Then they blew it up and the government gave us a billion pounds to rebuild it. So the town centre is really cleaned up.”
However, his comments, to the Petros & Money show, have been condemned by those who witnessed the carnage on June 15, 1996.
Pat Karney, a Manchester city centre councillor, accused Monaghan of “perpetuating a myth”.
He said: “That the bomb did us a favour is one of the big Manchester myths of modern times.
“I remember what the lady who had 30 pieces of glass in her face looked like. I was one of the hundreds who ran screaming from the city.
“When I think about the bomb I don’t think about it as a favour.”
Tony Lloyd, MP for Manchester Central, said: “It’s a long-standing joke that it did us a favour. But bombs in public places are not a laughing matter.
“Not every IRA bomb that came with a warning went off on time. The rebuilding of Manchester has been great but it is not because of the bomb. The city was already moving on that when it happened.”
Photos of Monaghan wearing a Manchester United football shirt were listed as the top item on the radio show's website on Tuesday.
German-born Monaghan is not the first to be criticised for the making the observation. In 2007 Bradford MP Terry Rooney provoked outrage when he described the bomb as “the best thing to ever happen” to Manchester.
The IRA claimed responsibility for the bomb, which left 212 people hurt.
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