Mary Lou rounds on senator for tweet over IRA murder victim
MARY told be after careful Sinn the LOU party Féin on McDonald social members suspended media has to a senator insulting for post sharing about IRA an murder victim Brian Stack.
The party leader spoke out after Senator Máire Devine was suspended for three months for sharing a post referring to Mr Stack as a ‘sadist prison officer’. Mr Stack’s son Austin demanded Senator Devine resign.
Ms McDonald yesterday apologised to the Stack family and said she had ‘zero tolerance for actions that bring grief to the victims or their Devine ‘catastrophic failing families’. but had to criticised apologised recognise error She in said her judgment’ for the for Ms a error members: Ms McDonald right away. ‘For urged goodness party sake, thoughtful be and cautious, if you have be made a mistake, accept that the mistake was made immediately.’ She also said: ‘The bigger mistake in my own view that Senator Devine made was not to automatically delete the tweet when it was brought to her attention, the full content of it. And not to have automatically apologised.’
Mr Stack, a chief prison officer in Portlaoise, was shot in the neck by the IRA in March 1983 and died 18 months later.
His son Austin tweeted: ‘It really is incredible that a political representative is re-victimising the son of an IRA victim.’
Ms Devine yesterday apologised for the tweet and said she accepted her suspension.
NEXT weekend marks the 35th anniversary of prison officer Brian Stack being shot by the IRA in Dublin. He died in hospital 18 months later.
No-one has ever been brought to justice for that brutal murder. For years now, members of Mr Stack’s family have been calling for information about his killers.
That their campaign has yielded little in the way of success is bad enough in itself. But it is beyond shocking that Sinn Féin senator Máire Devine saw fit to share a post on social media that referred to Mr Stack in insulting terms.
Granted, there is something to be said for the fact that Ms Devine is suspended from the party. It is to be welcomed that Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has apologised to the Stack family. She has also urged party members to be ‘cautious’ and ‘thoughtful’ in terms of what they put up on Twitter and other forums.
Yet it speaks volumes that Ms McDonald should even need to do this. Quite apart from anything else, it demonstrates that there is a significant element in the party ranks wedded to an ideology that are repugnant to most people.
Accordingly, Ms McDonald faces a major challenge in the months and years ahead. The very least she needs to do is convince ordinary voters that her party has moved on from attitudes that never had widespread support on this island.