Sinn Fein ‘obsessed with border poll’ says DUP as it slams ‘£2,000 gold table tickets at Sinn Fein dinner’

By Henry McDonald
Published 22nd Jul 2022, 10:51 BST
Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 6th May 2022 - Mary Lou McDonald at the Northern Ireland Assembly Election Count at Titanic Exhibition Centre, Belfast Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye.Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 6th May 2022 - Mary Lou McDonald at the Northern Ireland Assembly Election Count at Titanic Exhibition Centre, Belfast Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye.
Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 6th May 2022 - Mary Lou McDonald at the Northern Ireland Assembly Election Count at Titanic Exhibition Centre, Belfast Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye.
Even on the far side of the planet, Sinn Fein remain obsessed with a border poll, the DUP said last night.

The party was responding to remarks by Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald who predicted there would be an Irish unity referendum by 2030.

Mrs McDonald made her claim while on a speaking tour in Australia as her vice-president Michelle O’Neill was in Washington DC urging the Biden administration to send a special envoy to Northern Ireland.

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DUP North Belfast MLA Phillip Brett said both Sinn Fein figures’ demand for a border poll while abroad “ranks above any other priority for them”.

Mr Brett said: “The cost of living wasn’t obviously a priority for those paying nearly £2,000 for a ‘Gold Table’ to hear the Sinn Fein president speak in Sydney on this tour. Instead of building consensus, Sinn Fein’s only interest is in promoting instability and divisive politics.”

He called on the SDLP and Alliance to call out the Sinn Fein leaders’ focus on a united Ireland referendum.

“Will other parties step forward and challenge this obsession, or will there be the usual silence from their pro-protocol allies?”

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On Mrs McDonald’s suggestion that Australia’s new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese lobby in favour of a united Ireland on the international stage, Mr Brett said: “Recent months have seen significant strengthening of links between the UK and Australia, with the deal to share more than four million Covid vaccine doses between the two countries, and strengthening partnerships in security and green technology.

“Australians will want to focus on issues of real importance to their lives just as the people of Northern Ireland want to get on with resolving the NI Protocol, restoring devolution and then implementing the policies we put forward in our five-point plan like fixing the NHS and delivering 30 hours of free childcare for working families.”

Speaking in Canberra to the National Press Club of Australia, the Sinn Fein president invited unionists to “come home and be part of the new Ireland”.

The TUV said there was little to attract anyone to Mrs McDonald’s new all-Ireland.

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Harold McKee, Mourne TUV councillor, said: “Why would anyone living in this part of the UK want to give up a free NHS? Why would we aspire to surrender our £12,500 personal tax free allowance? Why would we want to give up our £10billion annual subvention from Westminster in order to become part of a Republic?”

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