Northern Ireland veteran brands Sinn Féin 'murderers' following election victory

9 May 2022, 22:06

NI veteran brands Sinn Féin 'murderers' following Assembly victory

By Seán Hickey

This caller, who served in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, attacks Iain Dale for covering Sinn Féin's victory in the Northern Ireland Assembly elections.

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Northern Ireland returned Sinn Féin as the largest party in the Assembly elections last week, leading to potentially the first nationalist First Minister in the 101 year history of the nation.

The DUP however have refused to engage in power-sharing talks in the first day back in Stormont since the election, citing issues with the Northern Ireland protocol as their reason for abstaining from negotiations.

Dave phoned in from Newcastle to share his views on the story.

He told Iain Dale that he has done "many tours of Northern Ireland" and has experienced PTSD following his service during the troubles.

The caller was offended by the normalisation of Sinn Féin's victory in the Assembly election, stating that "nobody's mentioned about Sinn Féin how they're murderers."

Sinn Féin were the political wing of the IRA during the Troubles, and their representatives were banned from British and Irish media at the time due to their association with bloodshed at the time.

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"Sinn Féin will always be murderers" Dave stated, to which Iain urged the caller to move on from the Troubles given there has been significant steps made towards peace in Northern Ireland since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

He went further to state that he "always refused to interview Sinn Féin politicians", having lost friends to the IRA, but he is trying to move forward given Sinn Féin now have a mandate as the largest party in Stormont.

The caller was sticking by his comments, stating that "politics or no politics", he still thought Sinn Féin were murderers.

"We are in 2022, not 1992", Iain concluded.