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Sinn F\u00e9in leader Mary Lou McDonald has accused Fianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael of using issues in Northern Ireland to make political capital.<\/p>\nSinn F\u00e9in leader Mary Lou McDonald has accused Fianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael of using issues in Northern Ireland to make political capital.<\/p>\n
Speaking on Wednesday morning after Tuesday\u2019s Leaders\u2019 Debate on RT\u00c9, Ms McDonald pointed to Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar\u2019s criticism of Northern Ireland\u2019s public services as an example.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cYou saw in the debate last night, the issues around public services in the north, we\u2019ve been shouting about this from the rooftops; the cutting of the block grant, a decade of Tory austerity, has been devastating for the health and public services.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen (Fianna F\u00e1il leader) Miche\u00e1l Martin or Leo Varadkar use that to suggest that the Assembly is in some way comparable to the D\u00e1il, when they know London holds the purse strings \u2013 I think that\u2019s dishonest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Varadkar appeared on Newstalk Radio on Wednesday morning where he repeated his argument that Northern Ireland is different from the Republic, and at one point compared Stormont to a \u201clocal authority\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s talking out of both sides of his mouth,\u201d Ms McDonald said in response.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not fair to say the Assembly is the equivalent of a local authority, but it doesn\u2019t have fiscal powers, so when we talk about the damage to the health service, we\u2019re saying: \u2018Yes, what are you going to do to help us?’\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms McDonald noted that her issue was not on the current controversy surrounding Sinn F\u00e9in minister Conor Murphy and his comments on murder victim Paul Quinn: \u201cThere are issues that are electoral, and there are issues that are way beyond that, as far as I\u2019m concerned,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout a shadow of a doubt they do (use Northern Ireland for political gain) \u2013 but not in this instance, I just want to make this very clear, I am not suggesting that in respect of the Quinn family\u2019s campaign for their son.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy main concern, and I mean this, is that Breege Quinn and the wider family are given some peace from the apology from Conor (Murphy) and beyond that, I don\u2019t think you should think about things like this in terms of how it\u2019ll affect of polling, I think that\u2019s crass, I don\u2019t think circumstances like this should be politicized.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms McDonald went on to add that the main Irish political parties often use Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s political history in Northern Ireland during the election campaign to score points.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are some in the Irish political establishment who reach for the north, only and solely to damage Sinn F\u00e9in, to dredge up people\u2019s real suffering, as a way to score political points, and I think that\u2019s, at this stage, beneath all of us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to build for the future and there is nothing to be gained from selectively reaching for the past.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we need to do is give the people who suffered through the Troubles the space, the supports and the mechanisms to get as much closure as is possible, and that goes for all people across the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked if it makes her uncomfortable when called upon to apologize for IRA activities in the past, as McDonald herself was only 20 and not a member of Sinn F\u00e9in at the time of the Good Friday Agreement, she says that she understands her role.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe thing that frustrates me is that \u2018down here\u2019, as we call it, there is sometimes no appreciation for the huge progress that has been made in the north,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are partitionist when they wish to be.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I\u2019m the leader of Sinn F\u00e9in, and it\u2019s right that you will questioned and tested and challenged, but I think all of us have a duty to mind the peace process and that\u2019s not compatible with consistently using the north and the past as political capital.\u201d<\/p>\n