Ulster Unionist justice spokesperson Tom Elliott has asked if Sinn Fein is ashamed of its IRA past following comments by Education Minister John O’Dowd after the Floor plan on the BBC Question Time TV programme was altered to read Sinn Fein/IRA.
Mr Elliott said:
“First we had Gerry Adams claim he was never a member of the IRA. Then we had Martin McGuinness tell us that he was a member - indeed a commander in Londonderry – but left in 1974. Now John O’Dowd has lodged a formal complaint and asked for an explanation as to why a BBC Floor plan was altered to read “Sinn Fein/IRA”.
For a Sinn Fein representative to ask why that party would be linked to the IRA is utterly laughable.
If this is evidence of Sinn Fein wishing to distance itself from the murderous activities of the IRA then that is of course to be welcomed. The trail of death and destruction wreaked across Northern Ireland, into the UK Mainland the Republic of Ireland and even further afield is something which any right thinking person or political party should be ashamed of. “