Mixed Message from McGuinness on IRA calendar says Empey
Ulster Unionist Party Leader Sir Reg Empey today called on Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness to disassociate himself from the IRA calendar on sale in Sinn Fein bookshops if a serious attempt was going to be made in the USA to present a united investment front.
In a statement Sir Reg said,
“While I welcome any united front of behalf of OFM/DFM to attract investment and that this visit to the United States is a curtain-raiser for the massive investment conference scheduled for the summer, I think it is important for the Deputy First Minister to send out a strong message and disassociate himself from the IRA calendar on sale in his party’s bookshops.
For a Deputy First Minister, representing all of the people of Northern Ireland and lobbying on our behalf on the benefits of a peaceful Northern Ireland for companies to invest in, it is unacceptable and a clear mixed message to be a member of a party that glorifies terrorists by selling calendars of armed gunmen in their party shop.
Martin McGuinness should call for the removal of this calendar from his party’s shops.”