Padraig Mac Lochlainn
DONEGAL TD Padraig Mac Lochlainn has hit back at a newspaper which described Sinn Fein as a cult.
“Who knew? The Sunday Independent today reveals that a political party supported by 400,000 people across Ireland is actually a cult,” said the Inishowen politician on his Facebook Page.
“Wait till Dan Brown gets a hold of this.
“Tom Hanks will soon be seen on your movie screens racing against the clock from Belfast to Dublin to Cork and up to Donegal to save us all from this dastardly Sinn Féin conspiracy.”
Meanwhile Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD has challenged other political leaders to a debate about the past which rises above contrived outrage of the Irish establishment parties in recent days.
Mr Adams said: “The issue of legitimacy is at the core of establishment outrage.
“Other political leaders refuse to accept the legitimacy of the recent phase of armed struggle which ended with the cessation of 1997.
“Although I disagree with it I accept that this view is entirely valid.
“The problem for its main apologists is their inconsistency.
“If the right to armed actions is illegitimate for one generation then it is illegitimate for other generations.
“The a la carte approach of establishment parties which praises the Volunteers of 1916, or of the Tan war; applauding Michael Collins or De Valera or Terrence MacSwiney while condemning Bobby Sands, Kieran Doherty or other Volunteers, is an entirely inconsistent position.
“All war is horrific. All deaths are regrettable. War is the result of the failure of politics, in the case of the Irish conflict this includes the failure of partition. A debate on all these issues is overdue.”