Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
‘Sinn Fein are under control of IRA Army Council in Republic’
Fianna Fail chief slams rival
SINN Fein is a puppet political party controlled by the IRA Army Council, Fianna Fail’s leader claimed yesterday.
Micheal Martin said it was run by “shadowy figures” and called into question why Mary Lou Mcdonald had made a U-turn on the fundamental issue of a border poll.
He told The Neil Prendeville Show on Red FM: “PSNI intelligence sources have been clear up until quite recently, two or three years ago, that the IRA Army Council still exists and shadowy figures control the political direction of Sinn Fein.”
Pressed on whether or not he believed the party was controlled by the Army Council, the Fianna Fail leader replied: “I didn’t say that but I agree with that. The PSNI and intelligence sources said that first.
“Their TDS on the ground don’t have the freedom of movement and freedom of space.
“I’ll give you an example. Just two or three weeks ago Mary Lou Mcdonald made an interesting interview with Reuters which I thought the content was actually quite good.
“She said she didn’t believe in an immediate border poll in the context of Brexit and she didn’t believe in an immediate poll on unity, the border poll which Sinn Fein have pushed on for some time.
“Within 24 hours, for some reason, she had to make a U-turn on that position and the question begs to be answered as to why she made that U-turn on an interview she gave the day before.”
When it was put to him if he thought Ms Mcdonald was told by someone from the IRA Army Council that she was offscript, Mr Martin said: “Yes. There’s no question, because it was a U-turn within 24 hours on a fundamental issue.” Mr Martin, whose party would be in a direct fight with Sinn Fein in some constituencies in the Republic, made the claims on the day his party enters the first phase of budget discussions with Fine Gael.
A Sinn Fein spokesperson said: “This is nonsensical distraction politics from Micheal Martin who clearly doesn’t want to deal with the real politics affecting ordinary people across the State, such as the housing and health crises or the postal closures across the State.
“Mary Lou Mcdonald is the democratically elected leader of Sinn Fein and there is no credibility in Micheal Martin’s claims which are incorrect. “We will not be distracted by this nonsense.”