SINN FÉIN should be “pleased” there is no united Ireland and that Northern Ireland is spared the economic crisis, Ulster Unionist leader Tom Elliott has claimed.
Speaking in the Assembly yesterday, Mr Elliott taunted the leader of the Sinn Féin group in the House John O’Dowd: “Is he not, at this stage, pleased that we are not part of an all-Ireland state that is going down the tubes financially and politically?
“I am sure that he is, for once, pleased to be part of a Northern Ireland that is part of the United Kingdom.” Mr Elliott was taking part in a debate on a DUP call for the 70th anniversary of the death of James Craig, the first Northern Ireland prime minister, to be formally noted by the Assembly.
Mr O’Dowd, Assembly member for Upper Bann, hit back at Mr Elliott, warning that the effects of the crisis in the Republic would be keenly felt in all parts of the island.
“I hope that unionists realise that what is happening in Dublin will have a strong economic effect here, especially in your Border constituency of Fermanagh,” he said.
Mr Elliott denied he was drawing comfort from the Republic’s crisis. “Of course I do not relish that,” he said. “All I am trying to say is that I am sure that Mr O’Dowd and his colleagues are pleased that they are not part of that at the moment. That is all.”
Sinn Féin was critical of the DUP call, with several speakers claiming the motion was a poor use of Assembly time.
Unionist speakers including the DUP’s Mervyn Storey and Gregory Campbell and Mr Elliott praised Mr Craig’s role as unionist leader and the first Stormont premier.
SDLP North Belfast Assembly member Alban Maginness pointed to a series of anniversaries in the coming decade, including the centenaries of the Ulster Covenant, the Somme and the Easter Rising.
“We really ought to look at that on an all-party basis to see if we can commemorate those events in a sensible, sober and enlightening way,” Mr Maginness said.
The DUP motion was passed.