Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald condemned for using 'blood drenched' memory of IRA hunger strikers to push for border poll

The comments were made after Mary Lou McDonald addressed the National Hunger Strike Commemoration in Belfast today.

In her address she stated that the route to Irish unity is getting there “inch by inch”, as she urged people to stop “being bystanders”.

Mary Lou McDonald claimed that the day the public will have a say on a united Ireland “is coming”.

Republicans gathered for the annual event to remember the 10 men – all jailed for IRA terror offences – who died during the 1981 hunger strike.

Ms McDonald told those gathered at Milltown Cemetery that the momentum for a united Ireland is growing.

She also said that whoever takes on the role as next president of Ireland should be a leader for reunification.

“Friends, it is our duty as activists carve the avenue through which we will reach a united Ireland. We are getting there, inch by inch, day by day, year by year,” she said.

“It’s time to get on the pitch, to stop being bystanders as history unfolds, to finally shed the harness of partitionism, and become leaders for the reunification of our country.

“That’s what a government with real vision would do. That’s what a patriotic government would do. That’s what Micheal Martin should do. These are the values that the Irish president must advance.

“The day is coming when the people will have their say on unity. Our job is to build the most positive campaigns possible. To win those referendums and to win well. I say we can do it. I say we must do it. I say we will do it.

“As our long walk to nationhood continues, we never forget other peoples who yearn for freedom. We stand in unwavering support of Palestine and the people of Gaza as Israel’s barbaric genocide continues.

“As occupation, apartheid, starvation, bombardment, brutality, Israeli barbarism plays out for all the world to see.

“As Britain, the United States, the European Union facilitate, enable and finance genocide.”

She said the people of Palestine can count on the people of Ireland and pledged to continue to support them.

“As the powerful turn a blind eye to unimaginable suffering, as they aid and fund this brutal genocide, the people of Ireland will never be silent,” she added.

“With everything we have we will champion Ireland’s values of freedom, peace, and human rights. Together we say, sanction Israel, stop the genocide, end the occupation, free Palestine.

“Young people have always been at the forefront of the struggle of equality and justice.

“The hunger strikers were young. The average age of the 10 who died was 28.

“Thomas McElwee, the youngest, was only 23 when he died. Joe McDonell, the eldest, was only 30.

“Their story shows us that young people can change history. Our job is to inspire within them the power of activism.

“To instil in them the politics of defiance, over despair, the politics of hope, over fear. To instil in them the spark to rock the system, to shake things up, to be the living embodiment of Irish republicanism.

However TUV legacy spokesperson Sammy Morrison said the key point from her message was that Ms McDonald is still using the legacy of IRA members who were jailed for terrorist offences to push for a border poll.

He said: “It is noteworthy that at today’s Hunger Strike commemoration, Sinn Féin hailed their position at Stormont – a position they only hold because other unionists surrendered their promises on the Sea Border and put them there – as proof of momentum towards an all-Ireland.

“And where did Mary Lou McDonald choose to make this fresh demand for a border poll? At the annual Hunger Strike commemoration on the Falls Road – an event glorifying men who were IRA terrorists.

“An event celebrating the actions of men who murdered, maimed, and left a trail of destruction across this Province. Carál Ní Chuilín – one of the organisers this year – openly declared: ‘We do not come here in sorrow, but in pride, and in defiance.

"Our hunger strikers are the foundation stones of the Republic we will build’.

"That is the spirit in which Mary Lou McDonald called for so-called ‘unity.’ Not from a platform of reconciliation or peace, but from one drenched in the blood of terrorism.”

He added: “Let us remember exactly who was being honoured:

      •     Francis Hughes – murderer of an RUC officer.

      •     Raymond McCreesh – caught in possession of the rifle used to murder ten Protestants in South Armagh.

      •     Thomas McElwee – convicted of bombing offences, including the firebombing which killed Yvonne Dunlop, a Protestant shop worker and mother of three.

“These are the ‘heroes’ around whom Sinn Féin rallies as they demand constitutional change.

“For all their talk of inevitability, the truth remains clear: the majority of people in Northern Ireland still wish to remain part of the United Kingdom.

"What Sinn Féin once sought to achieve by the bomb and the bullet, they now seek to achieve through the Stormont system – helped along by the weakness of those who once promised resistance but instead delivered surrender.”