Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has said it would be "a very significant development" if the Sinn Féin leadership issued an unreserved apology for IRA atrocities during the Troubles.
Mr Martin said he was opposed to going into government with Sinn Féin now for a number of reasons including a belief that its parliamentary party was answerable to unelected people rather than the electorate like other political parties.
He was speaking at the Daniel O’Connell Summer School in Cahersiveen, Co Kerry, during a questions and answer session with broadcaster Olivia O’Leary.
“I do have issues with Sinn Féin on a number of fronts,” he said, adding that it appeared “centralised control” was wielded over the party’s politicians. He also criticised the fact there was no contest for the leadership of the party either in the North or the Republic.
“That’s a real issue and it’s very noticeable in Leinster House – you get the sense that Sinn Féin TDs are controlled by their party, that the apparatus of their party is very much in control, as opposed to other parties which are very much answerable to the wider electorate.”
He claimed there were “shadowy figures” in the background of Sinn Féin and that this had been stated by the PSNI, which alleged the IRA remained part of the modern republican movement. That charge was rejected by Sinn Féin, which said “the IRA is gone and not coming back”.
Mr Martin said he took issue with Sinn Féin’s “propensity to impose the current situation on history” and its tendency to present a narrative of recent Irish history that sought to justify some of the horrendous atrocities committed by the Provisional IRA.
“Sinn Féin want us all to accept a narrative of the past, they want us to become apologists for the most horrendous crimes and I’m not going to let that happen and I’m very determined to make sure that they are called out in certain aspects (when) they try and say it was all justified.”
No mention
Mr Martin cited a recent documentary on Northern Irish politician John Hume in which commentator Eamonn McCann observed that people doing tours of the Bogside heard no mention of the role of Mr Hume, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, in events in Derry during the Civil Rights movement.
“John Hume has been written out of the equation and that’s a very significant issue,” he said. “Sinn Féin wants to create a new narrative about what happened in the last 40 years and that has to be challenged. They should be less hung up about that and far more open on it than they have been to date.”
Asked by Ms O’Leary what his response would be if Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald were to issue an unreserved apology “without any whataboutery” for IRA atrocities and draw a line between the present Sinn Féin and the past actions of the IRA, Mr Martin said he would warmly welcome it.
"I think that would be very significant progress .... I think that would be a very significant development that I would consider and would encourage her to do," said Mr Martin, adding that it would mark a clear division between the Sinn Fein parliamentary party and the IRA.
