House of Commons to debate motion to censure Sinn Fein MP John Finucane for appearance as speaker at IRA commemoration event

The event, which takes place in south Armagh the day before the 50th anniversary of the Coleraine bombing in which six innocent people were murdered, has caused outrage among unionists and victims groups.

Today in Washington SF deputy leader Michelle O’Neill confirmed Mr Finucane would still attend the ‘South Armagh Volunteers commemoration’.

On the same day DUP MP Gregory Campbell tabled a motion to censures the North Belfast MP for his "reprehensible” role as the guest speaker at the event on Sunday.

Fellow DUP man William Irwin has called on Sinn Fein to explain how an event eulogising IRA members in South Armagh will “mend the hurt of the past”.

The Newry and Armagh MLA said: “Michelle O’Neill’s words don’t match reality. It is entirely correct to say that many different families are grieving. What she fails to explain however is how organising something that is effectively a carnival, complete with music and children’s entertainment does anything to deal with anyone’s grief.”

Mr Irwin added: "Most notably however for those innocent victims, this event glorifies the terrorists who made so many victims in Northern Ireland.

“This event is not about ‘healing the wounds of the past’, rather it appears specifically tailored to encourage a new generation to revel in the actions which caused many of those wounds.

“Sinn Fein may want to keep a foot in the past whilst telling innocent victims to keep their ‘eyes towards the future’ but if republicans are going to eulogise psychopathic killers then they can expect to be held to account.”

Earlier Sinn Fein vice president Ms O’Neill said everybody has a right to remember their dead.

“That was a core part of the Good Friday Agreement,” she said.

“So let’s be respectful of the fact that we all have a different lived experience and perhaps even a different perspective in terms of how things have unfolded over the years.

“But let’s be respectful of each other and let’s be mindful of all those people that lost their lives.”

Ms O’Neill said there had been a “complex history” and there was a need to be respectful of difference: “Many people lost loved ones throughout the course of the conflict and all those losses of life mean there’s a family that are grieving at the heart of that.”

Ms O’Neill said while trying to “heal the wounds of the past”, it is important to keep “eyes towards the future”.

“Let’s keep looking towards the future, let’s keep mending hurt of the past, let’s keep trying to build a better society for us all to live side by side and be respectful of our difference.”

Belfast TUV councillor Ron McDowell said that Michelle O’Neill’s comments “show just how removed Sinn Fein remain from basic decency”.

He said: “There was nothing ‘complex’ about lining up men on their way home from an honest day’s work and shooting them on the side of the road because they were Protestants.

"There is no respect for those still grieving when you organise kids entertainment at an event to remember those behind the naked sectarian slaughter of pensioners in Tullyvallen Orange Hall.”