Don’t Let The Gun Be Brought Back into Irish Politics

By Martin Gallagher

As the dust settles on the recent general election, we see the dominance of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael broken as Sinn Féin surged into the scene obtaining 37 seats from a possible 42.

From the young to the old, Sinn Féin found success with their left-wing politics and promises for a more equal and fairer Ireland which has become increasingly popular as people become more and more disillusioned by a government that has failed to address the housing crisis and rise of homelessness adequately. Their success has brought with it an air of positivism that could be compared to the 1997 election in the United Kingdom which saw Tony Blair bring “New Labour” into power after years of Tory Rule.

However, during this period of celebration and positive outlooks for the future, we as a nation should not forget who Sinn Féin are and who exactly the country has elected into the forefront of Irish politics.

Sinn Féin have a history steeped in violence and bloodshed and are known as the political arm of the IRA.

Despite efforts to clean up the party’s image we as a nation must face the truth that is that the IRA and Sinn Féin are still inseparable and this will become obvious when the pieces come together.

Starting off looking at newly elected TD David Cullinane and current Brexit Spokesman shouted “Up the Republic, Up the Ra and Tiocfaidh ár Lá” according to the Irish Times. He would go on to defend his actions stating it was due to “the excitement of the night” and that he was referencing the past and not the future. For an elected TD to openly celebrate a terrorist organization should be scandalous and especially so in the case of Sinn Féin, but leader Mary-Lou McDonald stated she would not censor them saying “I am not their mammy.”

If this is a sign of things to come, I would not bank on Sinn Féin performing very well come the next election. This is, however, tame and not that interesting in the grand scheme of things but it does allow us to look into Sinn Féin behind their squeaky clean mask.

For one, let us look at more scathing remarks from another current TD Dessie Ellis. Dessie was recently re-elected for Dublin North-West and was arrested and convicted of being a bomb maker in 1981 when explosives were found under his bed. Later on it was discovered his fingerprints were present on a cache of explosives that are believed to be used in the Hyde Park and Regent’s Park and Harrods bombing which together killed 11 people and injured 54. He was found to have set up a Whatsapp group that mocked the victims of IRA violence and sexual abuse, calling them “wasters” that were wheeled out to give “sob stories” to the media in relation to the Quinn family, whose son Paul was murdered in 2007 by IRA members, and Máiría Cahill who claims to have been raped by IRA members.

This all from a man that is currently sitting the Dáíl. If Sinn Féin had any professional standards he would have been forced to resign at the very least but what was given was lip service from a spokesperson and according to the Independent there is no evidence an investigation into the Whatsapp group and its comments were ever made.

Mary-Lou McDonald seems uncaring of these controversies and one would think they actively look for them.

Mary-Lou herself has a fair share of controversies including defending Thomas “Slab” Murphy former Chief of Staff in the IRA who was caught up in a multimillion smuggling operation and tax evasion trouble saying he was “a good republican” according to the Independent and was also caught lying about Conor Murphy’s comments about the aforementioned Paul Quinn accusing him to be a criminal. It is also worth mentioning that Murphy was arrested for possession of explosives in 1982. Mary went from saying Conor didn’t make the comments to accidentally admitting he did make them in an interview with Miriam O’Callaghan of which the transcript is online on the Irish Times. One would be asking now why Mary-Lou keeps these very open IRA sympathisers and also past members around. What does Sinn Féin have to gain by doing it? How can Sinn Féin try and take the moral high ground against Fianna Fail and Fine Gael while having terrorists not just part of their party but in government?

If you were to ask the PSNI and Gardai they would answer with “Sinn Féin are still the political arm of the IRA.”

The Belfast telegraph stated in 2019 that according to the PSNI The IRA Army Council retains oversight of Sinn Féin and that there has been no changes to their 2015 assessment of the relationship between the IRA and Sinn Féin. Sinn Féin is still the party of a terrorist organization that according to the Irish Times was responsible for 60 percent of the death toll during the troubles. Sinn Féin refuted this and MP Mickey Brady stated “The IRA is gone and not coming back” Which does bring one to remember Gerry Adams’s famous statement “They haven’t gone away, you know.”

This isn’t a new fact however, in fact back in 1999 the Irish times would report that the Army Council remained in Sinn Féin leadership after the Good Friday Agreement. One can see now their hatred of the Special Criminal Court which was set up to tackle the IRA as making much more sense as the pieces fall into place. This should make them unelectable but as seen by the most recent election it has not, instead we see Sinn Féin winning over people with memes and Gerry Adams posting rubber ducks on Twitter which also makes people forget about his links to the death of Jean McConville where he’s even been accused of ordering it.

The Irish people voted for change in the last general election but that change was bringing the gun back into Irish politics.

For all the anger directed at Leo Varadkar’s government and their response to the housing crisis and homelessness, even going to call them murderers, there is not a word about the party that currently has a bomb maker sitting in the Dáil.

Leo Varadkar put it best when he said to Pearse Doherty in 2018; “When it comes Sinn Féin, and the rule of law, and public order and condemning violence, it doesn’t take very long for your balaclava to slip.”