Jeffrey slams ‘no alternative’ claim DUP CHIEF: TROUBLES VIOLENCE NOT JUSTIFIED
Sinn Fein vice president Michelle O’Neill described the DUP’s block on powersharing as “unforgivable”.
She said: “All of your actions will not wash away the Protocol, the British legislating to denounce the Protocol will not wash away the international rule of law.
“The reckless approach of the DUP and the Tories is all about their own selfish interests and to hell with ordinary people.
Care
“But you don’t appear to care.”
However, the DUP’s Brian Kingston said: “These proceedings are not a genuine attempt to restore the institutions.
“Rather they demonstrate a wilful disregard for the views of unionists and the principle of powersharing itself.”
The SDLP’s Matthew O’Toole said: “Are the
DUP seriously saying we don’t need a government, that hundreds of millions of pounds can sit unspent when people go without support while that costof-living crisis bites? That is unconscionable.”
STORMONT First Ministerin-waiting Michelle O’Neill has been criticised for her claims here there was “no alternative” to the violence in the North for so long.
Her father Brendan Doris was a former IRA prisoner who became a Sinn Fein councillor.
Speaking to the BBC, Ms O’Neill one of her earliest memories was the sound of Army vehicles coming to the front door, adding their family home was regularly searched.
She said: “I don’t think any Irish person ever woke up one morning and thought that conflict was a good idea, but the war came to Ireland.
“I think at the time there was no alternative, but now, thankfully, we have an alternative to conflict and that’s the Good Friday Agreement, and that’s why it’s so precious to us all.
“My whole adult life has been building the peace process. I wish the conditions were never here that actually led to conflict, I wish that so many people didn’t have the horrible experience that they’ve had throughout the conflict days.
Understand
“The only way we’re ever going to build a better future is actually to understand that it’s OK to have a different take on the past.”
However DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson said: “There was never a justification for violence.
“Even in Northern Ireland’s darkest days the overwhelming majority respected democracy, the rule of law and — where they felt passionately — took part in peaceful protest.
“Sinn Fein can pretend there was no alternative but they are condemned by the facts.”
Donaldson said that while Ms O’Neill speaks about being a first minister for everyone, “the mask has well and truly slipped”.