Kennedy reacts to the Speaker’s statement on Mairéad Farrell tribute at Stormont.
Danny Kennedy Ulster Unionist Deputy Leader and MLA for Newry and Armagh has welcomed the Speaker’s intention to refer Sinn Fein’s Mairéad Farrell tribute to the Assembly Commission.
In a statement Mr Kennedy said,
“The Ulster Unionist Party continues to make strong representations to the Speaker, and Stormont authorities, resolutely opposing the application by Jennifer McCann and Sinn Fein to eulogise a convicted terrorist in Parliament Buildings.
We welcome the statement the Speaker has made and that the matter will now be considered urgently by the Assembly Commission. The Ulster Unionist member of the Assembly Commission Dr. Robert Coulter will be opposing this application in the strongest possible manner. We welcome and encourage others to share our position on this matter given that we were the first Party to raise the issue.
Furthermore, the proposed event would be held in the month that marks the 20th anniversary of the brutal murder of Corporals Howes and Wood. Those murders were amongst the most savage acts undertaken by the Republican movement – shocking civilized opinion across the globe. It is staggering to think that Ms. McCann and her Sinn Fein colleagues now seek to glorify a bitter, painful time in our recent past.”
Unlike others the Ulster Unionist Party does not equate the actions of Mairéad Farrell with the SAS and other special forces. The SAS played an essential part in defending Northern Ireland from 30 years of terrorist onslaught, an onslaught that was perpetrated by people such as Mairéad Farrell and her cohorts”.