SF accused of disrespect after MLA '˜attempts to justify IRA terrorism'

Mr Maskey’s tweet, in which he also refers to NI as a “putrid little statelet”, came following an Assembly event on Monday marking the centenary of women’s voting rights.

Following the women’s forum at Parliament Buildings SDLP leader Colum Eastwood tweeted: “We can’t forget that it took the Civil Rights Association here to ensure that all people got full access to voting rights.”

Mr Maskey responded: “Unfortunately it took more than the CRA to secure rights in the putrid little statelet NI.”

UUP’s Doug Beattie said that in recent months Sinn Fein’s respect, rights and equality campaign has proved to be “as thin as the paper it is written on”.

He said: “Firstly we had Barry McElduff’s mocking of victims promoted by other Sinn Fein members. Then we had the de facto leader of the party eulogising terrorists and trampling over the memory of victims. Then we had more revelations of ongoing Sinn Fein abuse and bullying of its own elected members, mostly in the Irish Republic.”

Referring to Mr Maskey’s tweet, the UUP MLA said it was clear he was referring to – and attempting to justify – “the murderous terror campaign inflicted on our society by the IRA, supported and promoted by Sinn Fein”.

He said: “Let us be absolutely clear. We could have got to where we are today without the murder of a single person, let alone almost 3,600 men women and children, and we could have a society where fair and honest political aims could be sought without the spectre of murder.

“This country we live in – Northern Ireland – is not a putrid statelet. It is home to 1.8 million people who just want to get on with their lives and peacefully seek what is best for them, their families and their community.

“It is increasingly clear that Sinn Fein don’t know what the word ‘respect’ means.

“Their campaign is in shreds and their credibility as a partner in government is in tatters.”

Emma Little-Pengelly of the DUP said: “On the day we marked 100 years since the extension of voting rights for women, Alex Maskey chooses to offensively justify those who murdered innocent women like Joanne Mathers for the ‘crime’ of collecting census forms.

“His description of Northern Ireland as a ‘putrid little statelet’ exemplifies a continued attitude of disrespect within Sinn Fein. This is all the more offensive, as the reference is within a tweet appearing to justify terrorism.”

Mr Eastwood, whose tweet was ‘attacked’ by Mr Maskey, said: “The Civil Rights Association achieved more in 18 months that all the years of violence that followed.”

He added: “The SDLP knows that the only way to achieve political change and progress is through working our local government in this small corner of Ireland.

“I would suggest that finally getting that government up and running again would be a better use of Alex’s time instead of constantly posting Twitter attacks on the SDLP.”

In a response to the News Letter Mr Maskey said: “The northern state was a unionist-dominated apartheid state, founded on religious and civil discrimination and which denied citizens fundamental rights such as the right to vote.

“Peaceful civil rights demonstrators were beaten off the streets in an effort to crush the demands for civil and human rights, special powers were used to suppress protest, and the state forces played an active role in sectarian pogroms of the 1920s, 1930s and 1960s.

The Unionist party presided over all of that.

“Faux outrage by some unionists at my comments ignore the facts that a wide range of people from the Civil Rights Association right through to progressive unionists opposed this sectarian discrimination and demanded civil and human rights for all.”