An Ulster Unionist peer has accused Mary Lou McDonald of trying to “wish away” the IRA after she claimed it is “not reasonable” for Sinn Fein politicians to be asked about the horrors of the past.
Tom Elliott, who pointed out that a number of Sinn Fein members were once active participants within the terrorist organisation, was responding to remarks made by Ms McDonald on the ‘Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning’ podcast earlier this week.
“Obviously that’s Mary Lou McDonald trying to minimise the damage that the IRA caused to society, trying to wish it away – and that just doesn’t happen,” he said.
“There are still many, many people who are seriously hurt both physically and emotionally by what the IRA did, and Mary Lou just can’t wash it away like that.”
The Sinn Fein president said the “Free State establishment” needs to move on from holding her party accountable for the actions of the Provisional IRA during the Troubles.
“The Free State establishment does have a difficulty, or a reluctance, or a refusal at key points in time to move on and actually accept that you don’t ask somebody who was a baby in the 1970s about things that happened in the 1970s,” she told the podcast hosts.
“That’s not a reasonable proposition.
“It wouldn’t be reasonably done with somebody from Fine Gael or Fianna Fail or the Labour Party, and it’s not reasonable to approach people from Sinn Fein in that way…
“You can talk about history, and we should.”
Ms McDonald then introduced a caveat adding: “But there is a distinction between that and holding people accountable personally for things that happened a very long time ago…
“As Sinn Fein has developed as a political force south of the border, you see those – and we’ll see it now in the upcoming election – those who believe that they govern and others do not, now when they see the possibility of an alternative and a clear-cut choice for the first time in a century of an alternative government led by Sinn Fein, some of that stuff is just about fighting their corner.
“And they will use any and every argument to say ‘they are not fit to govern’.”
Ms McDonald, who was born when the Troubles erupted in 1969, was responding to Mr Brolly who raised what he dubbed the “continued demonisation” of Sinn Fein and suggested that party members were forced to defend the actions of the IRA in the 1970s.
The party leader said she is “conscious of the hurt that was done” by the IRA during the Troubles, but complained that Sinn Fein is held to higher standards of accountability in the Republic and insisted she is proud to be an Irish republican.
Speaking to the News Letter, Lord Elliott rubbished her comments.
“Let’s not forget – there are many people still in Sinn Fein who were active members of the IRA,” he said.
“I don’t accept Mary Lou’s comments or reflections on that at all.”