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Sinn Fein deputy Pádraig MacLochlainn during Wednesday's show. Screengrab / TV3 Player

Sinn Féin TD claims he was 'stitched up' by Vincent Browne

Pádraig MacLochlainn’s appearance on the ‘Tonight With Vincent Browne’ show sparked controversy but he says that he has received significant support.

SINN FÉIN DEPUTY Pádraig MacLochlainn claims that he was misled by the producers of  ’Tonight With Vincent Browne’ before an episode of the show on which he was a guest on Wednesday night.

During the show which discussed the Smithwick Report on the killing of two RUC officers in Armagh, MacLochlainn defended the IRA’s campaign and said that the IRA members who killed the two RUC men “had a duty as much as Michael Collins and the IRA of the War of Independence”.

His comments were strongly criticised by the other guests on the panel which included a solicitor for the family of one of the dead RUC men , Fine Gael chairman Charlie Flanagan and journalist Sarah McInerney.

His words also sparked an intense debate on Twitter during the course of the show.

Speaking on Highland Radio today however, the Donegal North-East TD claims that the producers of the show did not tell him the solicitor was going to present for the debate and insisted that since the show he has received significant support from the public who feel he was “stitched up”:

“I’ve never seen the levels of emails, phonecalls and texts of support from people, not just in Donegal but across the country because what of they saw as a stitch up with four journalists including Vincent Browne against myself,” he said.

What I was advised beforehand was that we would talk about Smithwick briefly but when I arrived at the studio I realised that they had the solicitor for the families there and clearly the intention was to embarrass and humiliate.

MacLochlainn’s appearance followed an earlier interview by Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams who suggested that the RUC officers killed did not take appropriate care for their safety in the context of the north’s security situation.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin had earlier criticised Adams’ comments comparing them to the Widgery Report int ‘Bloody Sunday’, something which is widely seen as a whitewashed distortion of the truth.

Speaking today, Martin reiterated those comments saying that Sinn Fein is attempting to “rewrite history”, something he says they have been “quite adept at” :

You hear Padraig MacLochlainn saying, ‘Do people realise what it was like in the nationalist communities in the north?’ Well I’ve spoken to people who lived in nationalist communities in the north and they’ve a different perspective to deputy MacLochlainn. It’s that if the IRA didn’t do what they did then life would have been far more tolerable for them in their daily lives in South Armagh and Belfast and Derry and elsewhere.

“I’ve spoken to ex-IRA people who now don’t believe it was worth all the murder and the mayhem, particularly from the 1970s onwards so there’s a lot of different perspectives out there,” said Martin.

Read: ‘Insulting, offensive, quite outrageous’: Sinn Féin criticised over Smithwick response >

Read: Gerry Adams insists IRA volunteers ‘were doing their duty as they saw it’ >

Read: ‘Laissez faire’ comments reflect what is recorded by Smithwick Tribunal – Gerry Adams >

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    Aug 17th 2015, 7:35 AM

    Is anybody else having trouble opening the links provided?

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    yep!

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    Aug 17th 2015, 8:08 AM

    Hi Andrea – are you trying them on desktop, iOS or Android?

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    I’m on Android (lollipop), no links for me #sadface

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    Aug 17th 2015, 8:11 AM

    Thanks Mairead – we’re looking into this right way, as it works on iOS and desktop.

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    Aug 17th 2015, 8:12 AM

    For me, it’s the Android Journal app.

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    Aug 17th 2015, 8:15 AM

    Hi Jamie – thanks for the info, our tech team are looking into it. In the meantime, I know it’ s not ideal but if you do have access to the desktop site, (should work on your phone’s internet browser too outside of the app I think) then you can try there?

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    Hi Andrea, it should be working now if you want to give it a try?

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    Aug 17th 2015, 8:03 AM

    Nope, links won’t work. But I don’t actually care all that much because I got my first choice!! Helloooo primary school teaching in St Pats

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    Aug 17th 2015, 8:05 AM

    well done!

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    Aug 17th 2015, 7:43 AM

    No links will open for me.

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    Aug 17th 2015, 9:00 AM

    Hi there – it should be working on Android now, let me know if you have any more problems.

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    Aug 17th 2015, 10:03 AM

    Working now, thanks.

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    Aug 17th 2015, 7:58 AM

    I went to another site to check points. Links not working all morning, not a morning anyone needs to be waiting for a never loading link!

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    Just accepted my place at UCC in Pharmacy absolutely delighted!

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    Aug 17th 2015, 9:51 AM

    Absolutely gutted , missed law and german by twenty points . Got 525 and the course moved up to 545 from 515. I got offered biopharmaceutical chemistry in galway which I’d strongly dislike to do as I know it’s not for me. Go to college to do a course I don’t want and move across the country or take a year out? Tough decision.

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    Year out and work and save some money, life is too short to waste it studying something that doesn’t interest you.

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    Aug 17th 2015, 11:11 AM

    Did you not apply for a similar level 6/7 course? I’d take that if I were you and then see about a transfer to the lv8 course

    I know somebody who couldn’t do his engineering course in UCC because despite having 500+ points he failed French…

    Now he has a masters in engineering from UCC as well as a degree, a diploma and a certificate from CIT.

    Imagine graduating 4 times lol

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    Aug 17th 2015, 8:33 AM

    Course points have risen exponentially across the board. Let’s hope round 2 is more forgiving

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    Aug 17th 2015, 8:11 AM

    To confirm… Not opening on Android OS

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    Aug 17th 2015, 9:01 AM

    Hi there, it should be working now.

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    Aug 17th 2015, 8:10 AM

    android

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    Aug 17th 2015, 8:10 AM

    Won’t open on android

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    Aug 17th 2015, 9:00 AM

    Hi Mark, it should be working on Android now.

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    Aug 17th 2015, 8:34 AM

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    Hi Tammy, should be working now!

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    Taught a fetac level 5 would guarantee a place in nursing???? got 10 destinations. . trying to get through on phones”(

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    Aug 17th 2015, 7:33 PM

    Please tell me that was an autocorrect error Maura ?

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