Former Derry GAA All Star Joe Brolly says Sinn Fein should take their seats at Westminster
The criminal barrister and Gaelic football pundit and writer claimed republicans’ abstentionism policy didn’t make sense.
His parents Ann and Francie Brolly quit Sinn Fein over its pro-choice stance on abortion.
Said Joe Brolly: “It’s okay for Sinn Féin to take their seats at Stormont, something I agree with heartily, under the supervision of the British government – I mean Stormont’s there because of the British government.
Describing himself as a “very, very moderate nationalist”, Mr Brolly said however that he sympathised with Sinn Féin’s decision to collapse the devolved institutions because of the DUP’s actions.
He was critical of Sammy Wilson’s climate change scepticism and how the DUP regarded the Irish language as “something to joke about”.
He also recalled an event promoting transplant awareness when he said then DUP health minister Jim Wells repeatedly referred to him as the “Londonderry footballer who brought Sam Maguire to the United Kingdom”.
Mr Brolly told Radio Ulster’s Talkback programme that he found the remark “very sneery, contemptuous”.
He said there had been a tremendous opportunity with the Good Friday Agreement to “create a pluralist, liberal, socially fair Northern Ireland which could have worked as a standalone state” but the opportunity had been “wasted”.
People from the North of Ireland are now “embarrassed” to say where they come from because of the political situation.
“There’s been no politics for two years; rampant dysfunction; the DUP are cheer-leading Brexit while internal government reports are saying Northern Ireland’s going to be the hardest hit region of the UK, and they’re predicting a contraction of the economy of up to nine per cent, which equals a severe recession,” he said.
In an interview with the News Letter, the 1993 All-Ireland winner also urged the GAA to show “leadership” and give its backing to a referendum on Irish unity.
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