Sinn Fein leader Michelle O’Neill branded a ‘wining and dining hypocrite’ after revealing she WILL attend the Coronation of Charles III while her party blocks celebrations for unionists in Northern Ireland
- O’Neill said she would attend May 6 event with Irish president Michael D Higgins
- Party accused of preventing ‘pro-union British people having any celebration’
Sinn Fein’s leader in Northern Ireland was branded a hypocrite today for agreeing to attend the Coronation of King Charles III in London while her party prevents unionists from celebrating at home.
Michelle O’Neill, the party’s deputy president, said she intended to attend the May 6 event in London alongside the Irish president Michael D Higgins.
In a tweet Ms O’Neill, who attended the Queen;s funeral last September, said said she accepted an invitation on behalf of Northern Irish people ‘for whom the coronation is a hugely important occasion’.
But furious unionists lashed out at her decision, saying it came as they were being prevented from celebrating by nationalist-controlled councils in Ulster.
Former minister Kate Hoey told MailOnline: ‘She’s entitled to accept it and she has made her own personal views on why she has accepted it.
‘My issue with it is that in a lot of the nationalist Sinn Fein-controlled councils in Northern Ireland they have refused any kind of support for the coronation, any celebrations, street parties, any of that in their areas.
‘So it seems a little hypocritical that she is going off to wine and dine, colloquially speaking, and yet her rank and file Sinn Fein have stopped basically pro-union British people having any celebration.’
Michelle O’Neill, the party’s deputy president, said she intended to attend the May 6 event in London alongside the Irish president Michael D Higgins. She is pictured meeting Charles last September.
Former minister Kate Hoey told MailOnline: ‘It seems a little hypocritical that she is going off to wine and dine, colloquially speaking, and yet her rank and file Sinn Fein have stopped basically pro-union British people having any celebration.’
‘I am committed to being a First Minister for all, representing the whole community, building good relations between the people of these islands, and advancing peace and reconciliation through respectful and mature engagement.’
The Democratic Unionist Party echoed this, with MLA Brian Kingston saying: ‘Michelle O’Neill’s attendance at the Coronation is an improvement on previous refusals at similar such royal occasions, but needs communicating to rank and file Sinn Fein elected members.
‘In many minority unionist Councils Sinn Fein opposed unionist plans to mark the Coronation. If Sinn Fein truly believes in building a shared future, then they should have no problem in supporting the Union Flag being raised on all public buildings to mark the Coronation.’
Ms O’Neill’s decision and invitation will be seen as highly controversial.
She would be in line to become Northern Ireland’s First Minister if the current powersharing impasse is resolved and devolution returns in Belfast. In September, she attended the Queen’s funeral service in London.
But Sinn Fein has strong links to the IRA, which murdered Charles III’s mentor Lord Mountbatten of Burma in a 1979 bomb attack.
His daughter, Lady Pamela Hicks received a telephone call from a secretary at Buckingham Palace on her 94th birthday, informing her that she had not been invited.
In a tweet she said said she accepted an invitation on behalf of Northern Irish people ‘for whom the coronation is a hugely important occasion’.
But her decision and invitation will be seen as highly controversial. Sinn Fein has strong links to the IRA, which murdered Charles III’s mentor Lord Mountbatten of Burma in a 1979 bomb attack.
Sinn Fein has strong links to the IRA, which murdered Charles III’s mentor Lord Mountbatten of Burma in a 1979 bomb attack.
The decorated war hero and last viceroy of India died when the IRA blew up his fishing boat off Mullaghmore in County Sligo, in a blast that also killed his teenaged grandsons and the 83-year-old mother-in-law of his daughter.
His daughter, Lady Pamela Hicks received a telephone call from a secretary at Buckingham Palace on her 94th birthday, informing her that she had not been invited.
His daughter, Lady Pamela Hicks received a telephone call from a secretary at Buckingham Palace on her 94th birthday, informing her that she had not been invited.
In a tweet she said said she accepted an invitation on behalf of Northern Irish people ‘for whom the coronation is a hugely important occasion’.
But her decision and invitation will be seen as highly controversial. Sinn Fein has strong links to the IRA, which murdered Charles III’s mentor Lord Mountbatten of Burma in a 1979 bomb attack.
His daughter, Lady Pamela Hicks received a telephone call from a secretary at Buckingham Palace on her 94th birthday, informing her that she had not been invited.
Mountbatten was Prince Phillip’s uncle and was close to his great nephew. The King wept at his funeral.
The decorated war hero and last viceroy of India died when the IRA blew up his fishing boat off Mullaghmore in County Sligo, in a blast that also killed his teenaged grandsons and the 83-year-old mother-in-law of his daughter.
The move to attend the coronation is the latest signal of the vastly improved relations between the republican movement and the monarchy since the outset of the peace process in Northern Ireland.
‘I have accepted an invitation to attend the coronation of King Charles III,’ said Ms O’Neill.
‘We are living in a time of great change. A time to respect our differing and equally legitimate aspirations, a time to firmly focus on the future and the opportunities that the next decade will bring.
‘I am an Irish republican. I also recognise there are many people on our island for whom the coronation is a hugely important occasion.
‘I am committed to being a First Minister for all, representing the whole community, building good relations between the people of these islands, and advancing peace and reconciliation through respectful and mature engagement.
‘Therefore, as First Minister Designate, I will join President of Ireland Michael D Higgins, international figures, church leaders, other party leaders and the Assembly Speaker Alex Maskey for the coronation in London.’
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