SINN FÉIN’S PEARSE Doherty has said Martin McGuinness is getting the best of care and is expected to make a full recovery, in the wake of his resignation as Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister yesterday.
Viewers were shocked at the appearance of the veteran Derry politician when he made a televised address yesterday afternoon to confirm his departure from the role – likely triggering an election.
“He’s had health problems, he’s going through treatment. He’s getting the best of care and I expect him to make a full recovery,” Doherty, the party’s finance spokesman in the Dáil, told Claire Byrne Live.
“He’s been involved with our negotiation teams right over the Christmas period – when many people were off he was still working,” the TD said.
McGuinness had been engaged in the party’s discussions on what to do about the rumbling ‘cash for ash’ controversy throughout the period, Doherty insisted.
He’s still at it – up and running and doing what he’s always done, which is leading from the front.
McGuinness stepped down as Deputy First Minister in response to the long-running controversy over the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI).
The move came after the First Minister, the DUP’s Arlene Foster, ignored repeated calls for her to step aside while an investigation is carried out into the scheme.
There are questions over how long Foster, who was the minister with responsibility for the scheme from its inception in 2012 until 2015, knew the initiative was flawed.
“Health has got absolutely nothing to do with it whatsoever,” McGuinness told journalists yesterday, following weeks of speculation about his condition.
The concerns first emerged when he withdrew from a planned official visit to China on medical advice before Christmas.
“Martin McGuinness is fulfilling his responsibilities as deputy First Minister working with his departmental political advisers,” a statement at the time said.
There has been no disruption to the work of The Executive Office during this period.
However, speaking later last month Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams suggested that his colleague’s health was affecting his work. According to the Derry Journal, he told party members his condition was making efforts “to ensure the stability of the political institutions” in Northern Ireland “even more problematical at this time”.
It’s believed McGuinness is receiving treatment for a heart condition – although full details of the nature of his illness have not been revealed.
Speaking on Morning Ireland today, RTÉ’s Northern Editor Tommie Gorman said the journalists in the room when McGuinness was making his announcement yesterday were “visibly shocked” at his appearance.
The Sinn Féin politician had used “the retirement word once or twice” recently, Gorman noted.
Sinn Féin has seven days to nominate a new deputy first minister in the wake of McGuinness’s resignation – but the party says it won’t.
Under the terms of the power-sharing arrangement, it’s up to Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire to make the next move next Monday – and the law says he must call an election.
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