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SINN FÉIN LEADER Mary Lou McDonald has defended Sinn Féin’s continued abstention from Westminster in light of last night’s Brexit votes in the House of Commons.
British MPs last night again rejected all of the alternative options put before them in the latest round of indicative Brexit votes – with one option backing a customs union losing by just three votes.
There were only four non-binding options before MPs last night. A similar effort to reach a consensus on Brexit last Wednesday – when eight options were tabled – also failed.
Sinn Féin has seven MPs elected to Westminster from constituencies in Northern Ireland but has long operated an abstentionist policy whereby it refuses to sit in the parliament.
Following the votes, Minister for Health Simon Harris tweeted that “with a margin of only three votes in the House of Commons” last night, it was “hard to see how Sinn Féin contend that taking their seats would not change the outcome of Brexit”.
McDonald addressed the tweet while speaking to reporters outside Leinster House earlier today.
She said that as a matter of policy and principle, Sinn Féin “will not swear an oath to a foreign power”.
“I would be really astonished if it is the case that Simon Harris … or anyone else who is elected to the Oireachtas, any party of the Oireachtas would come out and say that they would be prepared to take such an oath,” McDonald told reporters.
Touching on the idea of having Sinn Féin MPs in Westminster, McDonald said:
Don’t imagine for a second that seven Sinn Féin MPs could enter Westminster and make sense of the utter chaos and circus that we’ve witnessed over the last number of months.
That’s just not a real position and in fact I would suggest to you that were Sinn Féiners to enter Westminster, it would only heighten the political temperature.
“I would suggest to you that it would have the practical effect of making things perhaps even more confused and more chaotic,” McDonald said.
She noted that her party’s MPs were elected “explicitly on an abstentionist mandate”.
“It’s a matter of principle, we are a party that is for a United Ireland, for Irish independence. We’re also a party that understood and understands that Irish interest in this Brexit debacle are not best advanced at Westminster,” McDonald said, adding that the purpose of the UK Parliament is to “advance British interests”.
“Irish interests in this scenario were always going to be advanced and protected, or not, by the government in Dublin whose duty it is to defend Irish interests in conjunction with our European partners,” she said.
A poll carried out for RTÉ’s Claire Byrne Live / TheJournal.ie by Amarách Research in December found that 57% of people think Sinn Féin MPs should take their seats in Westminster so they can vote for May’s Brexit deal.
Of the 1,000+ Irish adults surveyed for the poll, 20% said the MPs shouldn’t, while 23% said they didn’t know either way.
With reporting by Sean Murray
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It’s a job in which fitness is crucial to their ability to perform the job and so yea there should be a huge emphasis on actually having a workforce capable of carrying out their job.
If you ask me fitness tests should also be a part of regular office jobs too, we should live in a world where it isn’t such a horrible thing to be encouraged to be as healthy as possible.
Proper order
Sure all the Police Chief has to worry about is making sure he fits behind his desk. When was the last time a chief led from the front and ran anywhere?
Apparently you didn’t read the article ?
Yeah I think that the Chiefs point! Even he could pass it
I wonder what percentage of Journal commentators would pass. .
Saw 3 undercover chappies running after a lad down the quays in Dublin last year…needless to say, he was able to literally walk away after 300 yards of chasing as our Finest were doubled over, breathless and verging on collapse…funny to watch, awful to contemplate as our alleged protectors!!!
I’d say that’s a lie
Nope…have it on video actually Jayo:-). 3rd Dec 2014 @ 15.38 to 15.41…Look at it when I need a laugh…
What an interning life you must lead Randle!
The unions here will have to draft up a Waddling Road agreement.
Waddling fat piggies
Was in UK recently & I saw cops wearing beards & glasses which made them to look like an idiot.
Cool story.
Here’s mine: I saw a nun buying ice cream today. It was funny.
How could several people look like one particular idiot?
It’s a small percentage who are unfit. Cast your memories back into ages past, in a time before smart watches, and the heroic deeds of some cork based gardaí – http://www.thejournal.ie/tralee-jewellery-theft-1162501-Nov2013/
Fat piggy couldn’t run fast or far enough
Do AGS have an annual fitness test?
No.
Everytime I see some of the met police’s finest there’s always a couple of fat ones!
Bloody right he is to!
I thought it was the wolf who huffed and puffed!
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