MacCionnaith Slams Adams Comments

éirígí general secretary Breandán MacCionnaith has slammed the comments of Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams on RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland program today[Monday]. Speaking in relation to the recent killing of a PSNI officer in Omagh, Adams claimed that éirígí had not stated their position on the action and were“running for cover” as a result.

MacCionnaith said: “This is the latest in the long line of cynical attacks by Gerry Adams and others in the Sinn Féin leadership upon éirígí. These attacks are motivated by nothing more than Sinn Féin’s fear that éirígí’s coherent socialist republican message is gaining increasing support in areas that Adams& Co regard as their personal political fiefdoms.

“éirígí’s position on the recent killing in Omagh and on other armed actions is clear and unambiguous. The party is not aligned to or supportive of any armed groups or their actions. This has been our position since our foundation five years ago, something Gerry Adams is well aware of.

“Gerry Adams is attempting to obscure this position in acts that mimic British Thatcherite ministers and the most reactionary of Twenty-Six County politicians. He is engaged in felon setting of a kind that was once used against Sinn Féin when the establishment deemed them a threat.”

MacCionnaith added: “It is hardly plausible for Mr Adams to claim that éirígí are ‘running for cover’ at a time when we are, in fact, running for election in his former constituency in West Belfast. Scores of our activists are canvassing daily on the ground in West Belfast, something Gerry Adams is also well aware of.

“And this is exactly what today’s comments were about. Incapable of dealing with éirígí’s platform against the cutbacks to public services being implemented by the Stormont coalition, the president of Sinn Féin is reduced to creating non-issues of his own imagining.

“éirígí spokespeople have consistently made themselves available for public comment on every aspect of the party’s policies and we will continue to do so.

“éirígí is on the record as offering Sinn Féin a public debate on the future direction of the republican struggle, an offer which they have, so far,declined to even respond to. If Sinn Féin is genuinely interested in engaging with republican Ireland, they will take this offer up.

“However, éirígí is more interested in and focused upon rebuilding the socialist republican struggle in west Belfast, in Dublin and across the country. Anybody who has the best interests of the working people of Ireland at heart should be doing the same.”