After the Bobby Storey funeral any political party which believes in democracy parties should quit the Stormont executive

Sam McBride’s excellent article on Saturday listed the various ways in which Michelle O’Neill and her confreres drove a coach and horses through the regulations and guidance put in place by her party to protect all our lives during the pandemic.
By Letters
Published 6th Jul 2020, 07:05 BST
Updated 6th Jul 2020, 07:08 BST
Letter to the editorLetter to the editor
Letter to the editor

(The article can be read here:‘Despite Sinn Féin’s Trumpian claims, Storey funeral involved at least 10 breaches of public health advice,’ July 4).

The article poses the question: that it is “baffling to understand why such a hard headed political party would consciously do itself such political damage”.

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Certainly there is no lack of political ability within Sinn Fein as is demonstrated by way they have outwitted the DUP and Ulster Unionist parties consistently down the years to bring us to the brink of the breakup of the Union with the Irish Sea border.

I believe that the answer to Mr McBride’s question is simple, but let us consider the sorts of assessments that some other people make.

A distinguished commentator in the Irish Times (July 3) stated: “The Bobby Storey funeral is another reminder not simply that the IRA has not gone away but that its army council is the ruling body of Sinn Féin.”

If this is the case, and the Bobby Storey funeral certainly makes it look that way, it is a scandal of monumental proportions, given that republicans have a controlling interest in the government of Northern Ireland.

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This is a situation that any truly democratic party must work to bring to an end as soon as possible.

In the long term this can only be done by the reform of the undemocratic and intrinsically sectarian arrangements which shamefully are currently in place for our government.

In the short term any party which believes in democracy and not terrorist rule should and must withdraw from the governing executive.

If this brings it down and opens the door for the reform of this corrupt system, then so much the better for us all.

Philip Black, Lurgan

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Related topics:Michelle O'NeillIRASinn FeinNorthern Ireland