DUP MLA hits out at Sinn Féin representatives' hunger striker tweets
A DUP MLA has said Sinn Fein needs to be challenged on its "glorification of terrorism" in order to ensure future generations "do not make the mistakes of the past".
However, Sinn Fein hit back accusing the DUP of "deflection politics from its boycott of our democratic institutions".
On Monday, Sinn Féin Mid Ulster representatives, Emma Sheerin MLA and Francie Molloy MP, shared tweets to commemorate the death of Thomas McElwee.
The 23-year-old from Tamlaghduff, died on hunger strike on 8 August 1981.
In October 1976, he took part in the bombing of Ballymena during which Yvonne Dunlop was burned to death. She was in a clothes shop she worked in when it was firebombed. Her nine-year-old child escaped injury.
McElwee was captured in 1976 after a bomb he was transporting prematurely exploded.
He was later convicted of Ms Dunlop's murder which was later reduced on appeal to manslaughter.
MP Francie Molloy shared a picture of McElwee on Twitter with the caption: “A rare picture of Thomas McElwee who died on this day 1981 after 62 days on Hunger Strike. He was only 23. RIP.”
Meanwhile Emma Sheerin wrote that McElwee would “always be remembered with pride in Bellaghy and across South Derry”.
DUP MLA Keith Buchanan said the posts were an attempt by Sinn Féin to "double down" on its attempt to "normalise terrorism".
Power-sharing has not been restored since the Assembly election in May, as the DUP has rejected attempts to nominate a speaker or form an executive due to its concerns over the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Mr Buchanan said: "In no other part of the United Kingdom would an MP honour a man found guilty of burning a woman to death in front of her nine-year-old child.
“Challenging this narrative is not about looking back but about ensuring future generations do not make the mistakes of the past,” he added.
Mr Buchanan also made reference to comments made by Sinn Féin’s Stormont leader, Michelle O’Neill, that there was “no alternative” to Northern Ireland’s troubled past.
"When Michelle O'Neill claimed there was no alternative to IRA violence she was telling us that Thomas McElwee had no alternative to firebombing shops and burning a young woman alive,” said Mr Buchanan.“Francie Molloy's eulogising of McElwee stems directly from that warped revisionism.”
"The latest glorification of terror is simply Sinn Fein 'doubling down' on its attempt to normalise terrorism.
"By repeating it, they simply hope that criticism will eventually fade away. Whether it is someone positioning themselves as a 'First Minister for all' or a Member of Parliament such attempts to normalise terrorism and to airbrush out its victims can never be successful and will always be challenged. Sinn Fein's position is not about the right of anyone's family to remember a loved one, but about the calculated glorification of their actions. "
A Sinn Féin spokesperson responded: “Under the Good Friday Agreement, everyone has the right to remember their dead with dignity and respect.
“The DUP is engaging in deflection politics from its boycott of our democratic institutions, its failure to tackle the cost-of-living crisis and preventing hundreds of millions of pounds frozen in the Executive’s bank account getting into people’s pockets.
“They (the DUP) should get back to work now, respect the outcome of the Assembly election, and work with the rest of us to support people who are struggling to pay their bills and to invest £1billionn in the health service to support people languishing on hospital waiting lists."
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