SF defends delegation to Venezuela

SINN Fein president Mary Lou McDonald has defended the attendance of two senior party members at the inauguration of controversial Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro.

Ms McDonald said Mr Maduro’s re-election was “open and democratic”, although the EU has said it “lacked credibility” and the US described it as a “sham” election.

Sinn Fein MLA Conor Murphy and general secretary Dawn Doyle attended events in Venezuela related to Mr Maduro’s re-election.

“Politics increasingly is reflective of the fact that we live in a global village. We were there as part of a delegation, we were there because we were invited and I’m very glad that two Sinn Fein representatives were in attendance,” she added.

Ms McDonald also proclaimed that “the Orange state is gone and it’s not coming back”, speaking at an event in Dublin’s Mansion House to mark the centenary of the First Dail in Dublin.

She said that Brexit and world politics were driving events “towards the logic of Irish unity”.