Alliance leader Naomi Long mocks News Letter coverage of her response to Ireland suing the UK on legacy - but still does not say if she supports the action

Naomi Long has mocked the News Letter for reporting that Alliance appeared to be split on whether it backed Ireland’s decision to sue the UK – yet she has still not explicitly stated her position on the legal action.
By David Thompson
Published 23rd Dec 2023, 05:57 GMT
Alliance's Eóin Tennyson MLA, right, explicitly backed Ireland's decision to sue the UK but Naomi Long, left, the party leader did not when we asked. She then said we had made up our report of a split, yet she still declined to answer or question as to whether she also endorsed the Irish legal action. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pic Colm Lenaghan/ Pacemaker Pic Colm Lenaghan/ PacemakerAlliance's Eóin Tennyson MLA, right, explicitly backed Ireland's decision to sue the UK but Naomi Long, left, the party leader did not when we asked. She then said we had made up our report of a split, yet she still declined to answer or question as to whether she also endorsed the Irish legal action. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pic Colm Lenaghan/ Pacemaker Pic Colm Lenaghan/ Pacemaker
Alliance's Eóin Tennyson MLA, right, explicitly backed Ireland's decision to sue the UK but Naomi Long, left, the party leader did not when we asked. She then said we had made up our report of a split, yet she still declined to answer or question as to whether she also endorsed the Irish legal action. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pic Colm Lenaghan/ Pacemaker Pic Colm Lenaghan/ Pacemaker

Mrs Long, who is Alliance leader, posted a message yesterday on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, in which she showed an image of our front page, which reported what seemed like a divide in the party on the law case.

In the story we pointed out that the Alliance MLA Eóin Tennyson had explicitly supported Dublin’s action against London over the controversial Legacy Act. He wrote on X: “It is regrettable that it has come to this, but welcome and sadly necessary that the Irish government will pursue an interstate case.”

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The story also explained that Stephen Farry MP, Alliance’s deputy leader, had implicitly supported the case when he wrote on X that Ireland’s decision to sue the UK was “no surprise” and, added: “This now needs to be addressed as a matter of international law.”

Given that Ireland’s legal case will allow it to be addressed as such, this appeared to be support for the case. And, seemingly aware that the case could cause ill feeling between the two countries he added: “UK and Irish co-operation over restoring political institutions in NI must continue in parallel.”

So we asked Mrs Long if, as leader, she too backed the legal action.

We put four questions to her, see below. But Mrs Long did not reply directly to the question of whether or not she supported the case. An Alliance spokesperson said Mrs Long “is on record, when serving as justice minister, as to her view this legislation is an insult to victims and an egregious interference in due process and the justice system, which could undermine public confidence in it. Her view remains unchanged”.

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Our front page story said that this appeared to be a split in the party, given that Mrs Long had sidestepped the question of whether she, a former justice minister in a devolved UK government, supports a legal action by another state against the UK.

The News Letter front page for Friday December 22 2023, which led on the apparent split in the Alliance Party over Ireland's legal action against the UK. Naomi Long mocked the suggestion of a split but has repeatedly declined opportunities to endorse explicitly Ireland's decision to sue the UKThe News Letter front page for Friday December 22 2023, which led on the apparent split in the Alliance Party over Ireland's legal action against the UK. Naomi Long mocked the suggestion of a split but has repeatedly declined opportunities to endorse explicitly Ireland's decision to sue the UK
The News Letter front page for Friday December 22 2023, which led on the apparent split in the Alliance Party over Ireland's legal action against the UK. Naomi Long mocked the suggestion of a split but has repeatedly declined opportunities to endorse explicitly Ireland's decision to sue the UK

Then yesterday Mrs Long’s post on X with yesterday’s front page, directed at the News Letter editor Ben Lowry, said: “It's Christmas not April Fool's Day, @BenLowry2 . Actually embarrassed for you with this headline.”

Mr Lowry replied: “Thanks @naomi_long, no need, I'm not embarrassed. @EoinTennyson explicitly backed Ireland suing UK, @StephenFarryMP implicitly did saying it needs "addressed as matter of international law". You sidestepped our query if you did as leader. Therefore, as ex justice minister it is of particular interest if you support the case. If you answer we will have a story up online within the hour. Please note the question is not, obviously, whether you oppose the Legacy Act. It is about support for the Irish legal action. Thanks"

Mrs Long then replied, to hundreds of messages of support: “Thanks @BenLowry2 for clarifying you made up the story of a split and put it on the front page instead of actual news. I didn't think you'd be embarrassed but I remain embarrassed for you.”

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But she still did not say whether she supported the Irish legal action. While many X users, some of them republicans, supported Mrs Long in comments and accused this newspaper of “lying”, many others pointed out that she had still not answered our question.

We put the questions to Alliance again yesterday but did not get an answer.In one of her other X messages, Mrs Long appeared to imply that she did support the action when she wrote that: “No need [for the News Letter] to ask in the first place. @StephenFarryMP and @EoinTennyson are elected representatives of the @allianceparty and speak on our behalf. I know it might be an odd concept, but when they state our position, that is our position.”

Therefore, Mrs Long appears to support the legal case but has not yet said so explicitly, despite repeated opportunities to do so.

Our four questions were:

Does Naomi Long support the Irish government's legal action against the UK over its legacy legislation?

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Does she agree with Eoin Tennyson that the move is "welcome and sadly necessary"?

If Alliance held the justice ministry in a restored Executive, will the party commit to upholding its legal obligations under the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023?

Will Alliance support - within a restored Executive - all ministers and departments following their legal obligations under the Act?

Related topics:Naomi LongIrelandStephen FarryBen LowryLondon