Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“Now that Phil Hogan has resigned it would appear that having shouted for months about the need for an all-Ireland approach to the pandemic Sinn Fein has abandoned that policy – at least in so far as it applies to politicians. In the wake of the Clifden golf dinner a minister, an EU Commissioner, several other politicians and even a broadcaster have either been disciplined or lost their jobs.
“Sinn Fein was among the loudest in calling for heads to roll in the aftermath of the dinner, yet in Northern Ireland members of the Executive were driven in Ministerial cars to a funeral where thousands of people flouted not just guidelines but the law which Ms O’Neill’s own department had steered through Stormont.
“Just yesterday Sinn Fein Midlands Northwest MEP Chris MacManus called on the EU President to sack Phil Hogan because he acted “in direct breach of Article 2.5 of the Code of Conduct in that he has acted in a manner which adversely affects public perception of his integrity and the dignity of his office.” Republicans are quite prepared to lecture others on the need for integrity and dignity in office. In Northern Ireland the law said that you couldn’t attend the funeral of your friends, something to which Ms O’Neill told us there were “no exceptions”, yet, the president, vice-president and numerous senior figures in Sinn Fein from both sides of the border thumbed their nose at the law by attending the funeral of convicted terrorist Bobby Storey.
“The whole saga has thrown into stark focus the absurdity of mandatory coalition. A system, which guarantees parties places in government for ever, insulates them as untouchables from the public pressure which normally forces politicians from office. Golfgate has also highlighted the breathtaking hypocrisy of Sinn Fein who are even prepared to dispense with its cherished “all-Ireland approach” when it serves their narrow purposes.”