Former Sinn Fein MLA cites 1609 arrival of Protestants in Ulster among excuses for party's inability to deliver A5 road project

A former Sinn Fein MLA has cited the seventeenth century arrival of Protestants in Ulster among the reasons why his former party has not delivered a major road project.

Francie Molloy blamed some of the land owners along the proposed route of the A5 road, saying some of them had obtained the land “under strange circumstances” – saying “this all goes back to the plantation of Ulster”.

placeholder image — Sinn Fein Infrastructure Minister Kimmins pictured with Seamus Keenan, DfI Roads, at the A5. She said she is keen to see the A5 scheme progress without further delays. Photo: Dept of Infrastructure.

Speaking on the BBC’s Nolan Show, Mr Molloy rejected the claim his comments were sectarian – and said the statement had been given to him by a DUP member.

The former Mid Ulster MLA also said the courts had been used to try to obstruct the political process.

The courts have previously ruled that the Sinn Fein-run infrastructure department’s plans are not compatible with Stormont’s climate change targets which the party still supports, despite unionist calls for it to be revised.

Mr Molloy told the programme that Sinn Fein hadn’t delivered the A5 “because the courts have come in the way, and people using the courts to obstruct the political process”.

Pushed by Mr Nolan on the fact that the party has not delivered on the road or on the Casement Park project, he said: “Yeah, it hasn't, and that's a regrettable situation.

“And I think the responsibility again, not just on the British government, but on the other parties, to ensure that those structures are put in place.

“But on the A5, you have an obstruction from the landowners, the people who got this land originally under strange circumstances in some cases – they are the people who are now blocking…” Asked by Mr Nolan to clarify under what circumstances, Mr Molloy said: “On strange circumstances sometimes, because remember, this is all goes back to the plantation of Ulster. You've got it back to the history of it”. Fellow contributor Newton Emerson said it was an “outrageous sectarian statement to make”. Mr Molloy said it was “not a sectarian statement at all. It's a statement that actually was given to me by a DUP member at one stage”.