Rita O'Hare IRA funeral: Sinn Fein condemning terrorism one week and celebrating it the next doesn't wash says TUV

TUV Newry and Armagh representative Keith Ratcliffe said it was further proof that Sinn Fein “remain unfit for government”.

Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald, who gave the main address at Tuesday’s funeral said that the Belfast-born terrorist was "an inheritor of that great tradition of unmanageable revolutionaries, an exemplar of that stubborn, relentless courage, who would in turn pass the torch to the next generation”.

She also pledged to move heaven and earth to achieve a united Ireland in tribute to her memory.

Mr Ratcliffe said: “A short time ago the leader of Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland stood with other political leaders to condemn the attempted murder of a police officer in Omagh. Yesterday republican grandees assembled in Dublin to pay tribute to a terrorist.

“Let’s not forget that Rita O'Hare fled Northern Ireland after being arrested and bailed in connection with the attempted murder of a solider. She later served time for her involvement in a bid to smuggle arms for the IRA.”

Ms O'Hare fled the region in 1972 having been arrested and bailed in connection with the attempted murder of a soldier the previous year. She was later jailed for three years in the Republic of Ireland for involvement in an IRA arms smuggling bid.

The TUV man continued: “Yet yesterday she was lauded not just for what she herself did but as ‘an inheritor of a great tradition’ who ‘passed the torch to the next generation’ by the leader of Sinn Fein.

“If involvement in the murderous campaign of the Provos means that one was part of a ‘great tradition’ and if smuggling guns for terrorists mean you passed ‘the torch to the next generation’ is it really any wonder that the blight of Republican violence remains with us to this day?

“One cannot condemn murderous activity one week and eulogise it the next.

“The events we witnessed in Dublin yesterday feed republican violence in the present and are also a reminder that Sinn Fein remain unfit for government.”