Trump-style politics from Sinn Féin as Mary Lou McDonald dismisses serious issues in her party as ‘fiction’ – Currie

Trump-style politics is on display from Sinn Féin after Mary Lou McDonald today dismissed serious outstanding issues in her party as ‘fiction’, a Fine Gael Senator has said.

Senator Emer Currie was reacting to Deputy McDonald’s interview on the Claire Byrne Show on RTÉ Radio One today (Friday).

Senator Currie said, “Trump-style politics is on display from Sinn Féin after Mary Lou McDonald today dismissed serious outstanding issues in her party as ‘fiction’. She might as well have shouted ‘fake news’ across the airwaves.

“This is a classic tactic to distract from the real and disturbing issues going on in Sinn Féin at the moment, none of which Deputy McDonald was prepared to properly address.

“It wasn’t fiction when £30,000 meant for businesses struggling with COVID-19 was found in the bank accounts of Sinn Féin representatives. As my colleague Minister Heather Humphreys put it, Sinn Féin used the Father Ted excuse – the money was just resting in my account.

“It wasn’t fiction when Sinn Féin accepted a €4 million bequest from the Estate of Englishman William Hampton, despite the fact that the limit on political donations is €2,500 thanks to a law brought in by Fine Gael in 2012.

“Sinn Féin are the fiction writers here; they made a number of speeches in 2012 calling for transparency in the area of political donations. Will Sinn Féin now return to the Estate of Mr Hampton the €3,997,500 that was over and above the legal donation limit? Mary Lou McDonald needs to answer this question and stop with the distraction tactics.

“Another fiction is the Sinn Féin claim that they are anti-establishment, the party of the ordinary working person. This is comedic fiction at its best as they are actually the richest party in the country. In the North their income last year was £2.5 million by comparison with the SDLP’s income of just less than £150,000. They own 50 properties south of the border. They have a global fundraising network, most prominent in the United States, where ‘Friends of Sinn Féin’ hold $500 a plate dinners and have a website where you can donate directly to their work in the North.

“What about the fiction of Sinn Féin’s research company in the North, ‘Research Services Ireland’, set up to allow 36 MLAs claim over £700,000 in mileage and expenses. It turned out that one of them couldn’t even drive but it didn’t stop him pocketing £5,000 for 11,500 miles travelled.

“What about the fictional funeral at a time when families could not attend the funerals of their own loved ones? Sinn Féin held a political rally in the middle of dangerous pandemic under the guise of a funeral, when the deceased was not actually being buried in that cemetery.

“Some of this is so incredible you would be forgiven for thinking it was made up. But there’s no fictional story here, simply fact after fact showing that Sinn Féin are not a normal political party. They think they can play by different rules to everyone else.

“It’s time for Mary Lou McDonald to put down the Trump playbook, stop trying to distract from the serious and disturbing issues within her party and commit to a level playing field for all parties.”