Only the resignation of the deputy first minister will undo damage to Covid-19 advice

Well it seems Sinn Fein and the IRA are indeed exempt.

The footage from Bobby Storey’s funeral while sickening and frustrating is of no surprise really to those who know Sinn Fein.

Republicans are best known for taking the law into their own hands, from murder by the IRA to Gerry Kelly MLA jumping on top of police Land Rovers and cutting off a wheel clamps from his car.

Their insistence on ‘honouring’ the IRA and those behind some of the worst atrocities in the United Kingdom is nothing new, they do it on a regular basis and will continue to, but even the most hardened person in Northern Ireland must see the image of Michelle O’Neill smiling along with funeral goers, arm around her, and the image will burn into their eyes.

These are the people who have been on our screens for weeks on end now telling us what we can and cannot do with the family and friends we all love, even when they die.

They stood, with their serious and concerned looking faces telling us all how serious this was and how we all needed to make ‘tough decisions’, until Tuesday arrived and those ‘tough decisions’ no longer mattered.

Any credibility that Michelle O’Neill and Sinn Fein had on coronavirus and the guidance is now in tatters, and by association the same goes for Stormont and the Northern Ireland executive.

These past few months have been extremely tough for so many in Northern Ireland, with incredible sacrifices from all, unionist, nationalist and neither.

The damage this has done is not to be underestimated and will only be by the resignation of the deputy first minister and an apology from O’Neill and her party that the situation we find ourselves in can be saved, we await the right thing being done by those who do not have a habit of doing the right thing.

Gary Hynds, Lisburn

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