SDLP Leader Colum Eastwood has commented on a reply he received from Sinn Féin’s Alex Maskey on social media.The comments were posted in response to an unrelated tweet from SDLP leader Colm Eastwood commenting on the 100th anniversary of women’s voting rights.
Unionists branded the Sinn Fein politician’s comments as “offensive”.
In response, Mr Eastwood said:
“Our history shows again and again that politics is what actually creates change.
“The only thing achieved by violence was the hardening of hearts and the filling of graves.
“That reality might be uncomfortable for people like Alex Maskey and Sinn Féin but it is a truth that can’t be unwritten or rewritten.
“If Alex disagrees with that analysis, if he believes that violence here actually achieved something, then I’m more than happy to have that debate with the Sinn Féin leadership.
“The Civil Rights Association achieved more in 18 months that all the years of violence that followed. It won rights for all our people after years of systematic discrimination.
“That debate, on how best to achieve change and political rights, would be very timely given the current Sinn Féin strategy of leading northern nationalism away from political power.
“The SDLP knows that the only way to achieve political change and progress is through working our local government in this small corner of Ireland.
“I would suggest that finally getting that government up and running again would be a better use of Alex’s time instead of constantly posting Twitter attacks on the SDLP,” added the Foyle MLA.
