O’neill must resign from Stormont role for the flagrant breach of guidelines over IRA funeral

THE anger in Northern Ireland is very real and very understandable. On Tuesday, people watched as the Deputy First Minister, Michelle O’neill, and many in Sinn Fein blatantly broke the guidance on funerals and packed the streets, along with hundreds of others, to honour senior IRA figure Bobby Storey.

How sickening this must be for those who have had to endure the heartbreaking guidance which meant they could not have the funerals they wanted and that their loved ones deserved.

“No one is exempt” are the words of the Deputy First Minister. Well, it seems Sinn Fein are, indeed, exempt.

This, while sickening and frustrating, is no surprise, really, to those who know Sinn Fein. Their insistence on “honouring” the IRA and those behind some of the worst atrocities in the United Kingdom is nothing new.

I believe any funeral should be permitted to have in attendance the person’s grieving family. Only the most cruel would deny people that.

So, Bobby Storey’s family should certainly have been able to attend. However, there was absolutely no need for the Deputy First Minister to be there.

Any credibility that Michelle O’neill and Sinn Fein had on coronavirus and the guidance is now in tatters and, by association, the same goes for Stormont and the Northern Ireland Executive.

These past few months have been extremely tough for so many in Northern Ireland, with incredible sacrifices from all, unionist, nationalist and neither.

The damage this has done is not to be underestimated and it will only be through the resignation of the Deputy First Minister that the situation can be saved.

We all await the right thing being done by those who do not have a habit of doing the right thing.

GARY HYNDS Deputy chairman NI Conservatives