Sinn Fein MP celebrates his election victory with IRA chant
SINN FÉIN’S president has warned party members not to distract from attempts to form a government after a newly elected MP was filmed shouting pro-ira slogans in his victory speech.
The party was plunged into a fresh controversy over its links to the IRA as it celebrated its historic breakthrough in the Irish general election.
David Cullinane, a Sinn Féin MP for Waterford, was filmed concluding his speech to supporters with shouts of “Up the Republic. Up the Ra. Tiocfaidh ár lá”.
“The Ra” is a term often used by republicans to refer to the IRA and “tiocfaidh ár lá” is Irish for “our day will come”. Both have associations with the Troubles in Northern Ireland, and the IRA’S 30-year campaign of violence.
Mary Lou Mcdonald, the president of Sinn Féin, said the comments were a “distraction” and should not be used to shift the focus from talks on the formation of the next government.
She added: “I’ve asked everybody not to be making throwaway comments or comments that can be misconstrued or distract us from the work ahead.”
Ms Mcdonald was asked about the appropriateness of Mr Cullinane’s comments and similar acts by other Sinn Féin MPS at election count centres.
“I’m not their mammy, and I don’t censor them either. We’re all adults and I do expect people to behave in an adult way and to cooperate with their dear leader and not to create distractions. But let’s not get overexcited on this.”
Sinn Féin’s critics say Ms Mcdonald’s
‘I’m not their mammy, and I don’t censor them either … I do expect people to behave in an adult way’
failure to condemn the comments is part of a broader attempt to normalise the party’s violent past.
Before the election, both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael ruled out forming a coalition because of its past links to paramilitary violence.
Since the election result, which gave Sinn Féin its highest ever share of the vote, Fine Gael has said its position has not changed.
It is understood that there are divisions within Fianna Fáil, with half the party in favour of joining Sinn Féin in government. But Mr Cullinane’s comments, for which he declined to apologise, will make the process of forming a coalition much harder.
Mr Cullinane said the video, which was uploaded on social media, was taken out of context. He added that he had been paying tribute to Kevin Lynch, who died in the IRA hunger strikes in 1981.
“It was reflecting back on that time in Irish history that I’m proud of … those hunger strikers. It was, I suppose, part of the excitement of the night,” he said.
Ms Mcdonald, a privately educated Trinity graduate from a middle-class suburb of Dublin, took over from Gerry Adams as Sinn Féin’s president in 2018 and has tried to change the party’s image. However, in the week before polling day the party was embroiled in controversy over what a senior party member in Northern Ireland knew about a murder allegedly committed by the IRA in 2007.
Since the weekend, Ms Mcdonald has ramped up calls for a border poll. But Arlene Foster, the DUP first minister of Northern Ireland, claims support for Irish unity had been falling in Northern Ireland.