Sinn Fein denies Mary Lou McDonald blamed unionists for stopping the A5 build - but won't say who she is blaming
Sinn Fein has declined to say who its leader was blaming for “stopping” the building of the A5 road project – but has denied the suggestion that Mary Lou McDonald was blaming unionists.
The republican leader addressed the issue in her conference speech at the weekend, saying that unionism “must work also for progress” – before claiming the build was being stopped.
The party currently holds the roads portfolio at Stormont, and its minister Liz Kimmins has been unable to get her plans past the courts.
In her speech to the Sinn Fein ard fheis in Belfast, the party president said: “The leadership of Unionism must work also for progress. Divisive, rejectionist, sectarian politics must be consigned to history. It has no place in our future.
“Casement Park will be built. The diggers are on-site. The A5 will save lives. Stopping this road is not acceptable”, the Sinn Fein leader said.
Last year, the High Court in Belfast ruled against the construction of the dual carriageway, citing Stormont’s 2022 Climate Change Act as one of the reasons. Infrastructure minister Liz Kimmins says she’s determined to build the 58-mile upgrade and is appealing. In March Mr Justice McAlinden accused her department, along with the Alliance-run environment ministry, of “gaslighting” the court over evidence submitted in an appeal.
When approached by the News Letter about Mary Lou McDonald’s comments, a Sinn Fein spokesperson rejected the suggestion that she was blaming unionists for the failure to deliver the project. They said this was not their interpretation of the comments, but when asked to clarify who Ms McDonald was blaming for the A5, if not the unionists she mentioned in the speech, the party did not respond.
UUP MLA Steve Aiken said: “The Infrastructure minister has presided over near on £200m being wasted on roads projects, money spent that has resulted in not one square metre of tarmac being laid – on the York Street Interchange, but above all on the A5. They are blaming everyone else but themselves for the failures on those projects”. He added: “This has nothing to do with political unionism, or political nationalism, or neither; this is just straightforward ineptitude by Sinn Fein”.