Carla Lockhart says government 'must end glorification of terror' as she attacks Sinn Fein record on violence
DUP MP Carla Lockhart has called for the government to stamp out the glorification of terror, as she highlighted Sinn Fein’s record on the subject.
In addition, Ms Lockhart noted that one of those Sinn Fein figures most prominent in condemning the recent car bombing of Dunmurry police station is herself the daughter of a man who detonated a bomb in Dunmurry, killing three people.
Late on Saturday night, dissident republicans exploded a bomb at the station in south-west Belfast.
No-one was hurt. It is being treated as attempted murder.
Tonight, Ms Lockhart joined other unionists in accusing Sinn Fein “of condemning violence in the present while continuing to romanticise and glorify terrorism from the past”.
She also called on the government “to urgently strengthen legislation against the glorification of terrorism”.
She said “while every right-minded person condemns these attacks without equivocation, Sinn Fein’s response drips with rank hypocrisy” given that the party continues “to glorify, laud and memorialise the bombers and terrorists of yesterday”.
Ms Lockhart also went on to add: “It will not be lost on many victims that Orla Flynn MLA, whose father Patrick Flynn was convicted over an IRA bomb in Dunmurry, was the Sinn Fein representative condemning this attack.”
Orlaithi Flynn is MLA for West Belfast and party spokeswoman for mental health.
Her father Patrick was part of an IRA unit which prematurely detonated a bomb on a train in Dunmurry in January 1980, killing Kevin Delaney (one of the IRA men), Max Olorunda (a Nigerian accountant), and Mark Cochrane (a student, aged 17).
Badly burned himself in the attack, he was imprisoned for manslaughter.
At the time Ms Flynn took on the post of MLA in 2016, amid criticism from Mr Olorunda’s daughter among others, Sinn Fein said that Ms Flynn was “working to build a better future for everyone in our society”.
It added: “Sinn Fein is committed to addressing the legacy of the conflict and that includes ensuring the needs of all victims are met.
“We acknowledge the hurt and suffering which occurred as a result of the conflict.”
In her statement tonight, Ms Lockhart went on to add: “The government must now reflect seriously on its failure to strengthen legislation around the glorification of terrorism.
"There must be no tolerance for the sanitising or celebration of terrorist violence, whether historic or contemporary.
"I urge the government to act urgently and legislate to end the glorification of terrorism once and for all.”