Northern Ireland’s new first minister Michelle O’Neill ‘contests’ claim Irish unity is ‘decades’ away

Published

4 months ago

February 3, 2024

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Northern Ireland’s new first minister has told Sky News she “absolutely contests” the UK government’s claim that a referendum on Irish unity is decades away.

Sinn Fein‘s Michelle O’Neill, the first nationalist to occupy the office, described her elevation at Stormont as “a historic day, truly representing a new dawn”.

In a document, outlining the basis of the DUP‘s return to power-sharing, the UK government said it saw “no realistic prospect of a border poll”.

But Ms O’Neill said: “I would absolutely contest what the British government have said in that document, in so far as my election to the post of first minister demonstrates the change that’s happening on this island.

“That’s a good thing. It’s a healthy thing because this change I think can benefit us all.

“I believe that we’re in the decade of opportunity and I believe, also equally, that we can do two things at once.

“We can have power-sharing, we can make it stable, we can work together every day in terms of public services, and whilst we also pursue our equally legitimate aspirations.

“There are so many things that are changing. All the old norms, the nature of this state, the fact that a nationalist republican was never supposed to be first minister. That all speaks to the change,” she added.

Ms O’Neill grew up in the “murder triangle” in County Tyrone. Her father was an IRA prisoner and her cousin was shot dead by the SAS.

But having pledged to be a “first minister for all”, she broke with republican tradition by using the term “Northern Ireland” in her acceptance speech.

“I’m somebody who wants to be a unifier. I’m somebody that wants to bring people together.

“We’ve had a difficult past, a turbulent past. A lot of harm was caused in the past and I think it’s so, so important that here in 2024, and we’ve just celebrated the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement last year, that we very much look towards the future.

“I hope I can represent the future. I believe I can represent the future, as somebody who wants to work with all communities.

“I obviously am a republican, a proud republican, but I think it’s really, really important that I can look towards those people who identify as Irish republicans, but also those of a British identity and unionist identity and tell them that I respect their values, I respect their culture.”

Asked if her pledge meant she would consider attending a Protestant Orange Order march, she said: “I will consider every invitation that comes my way.

“I’m hoping that I get invitations. I want to step into ground that republicanism hasn’t stepped into before,” she added.

Watch the full interview with Michelle O’Neill on Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips on Sky News from 8.30am.

Politics

Rishi Sunak apologises to infected blood scandal victims and says it is ‘day of shame for British state’

Published

2 hours ago

May 20, 2024

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Rishi Sunak apologises to infected blood scandal victims and says it is 'day of shame for British state'

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has offered a “wholehearted and unequivocal” apology to the victims of the infected blood scandal, saying it was a “day of shame for the British state”.

Mr Sunak said the findings of the Infected Blood Inquiry’s final report should “shake our nation to its core”, as he promised to pay “comprehensive compensation to those infected and those affected”, adding: “Whatever it costs to deliver this scheme, we will pay it.”

The report from the inquiry’s chair Sir Brian Langstaff blamed “successive governments, the NHS, and blood services” for failures that led to 30,000 people being “knowingly” infected with either HIV or Hepatitis C through blood products. Around 3,000 people have now died.

The prime minister said for any government apology to be “meaningful”, it had to be “accompanied by action”.

Politics live: Thatcher’s health secretary ‘disparaging’ to infected blood victims

Speaking in the Commons, Mr Sunak called it a “calamity”, saying the report showed a “decades-long moral failure at the heart of our national life”, as he condemned the actions of the NHS, civil service and ministers – “institutions in which we place our trust failed in the most harrowing and devastating way”.

The prime minister said they “failed this country”, adding: “Time and again, people in positions of power and trust had the chance to stop the transmission of those infections. Time and again, they failed to do so.

“I want to make a whole-hearted and unequivocal apology for this terrible injustice.”

Pointing to key findings in the report – from the destruction of documents through to failures over screening – Mr Sunak said there had been “layer upon layer of hurt endured across decades”.

He also apologised for the “institutional refusal to face up to these failings and worse, to deny and even attempt to cover them up”, adding: “This is an apology from the state to every single person impacted by this scandal.

“It did not have to be this way. It should never have been this way. And on behalf of this and every government stretching back to the 1970s, I am truly sorry.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer also apologised for his party’s part in the scandal, telling the Commons: “I want to acknowledge to every single person who has suffered that in addition to all of the other failings, politics itself failed you.

“That failure applies to all parties, including my own. There is only one word, sorry.”

In his report, released earlier on Monday, Sir Brian issued 12 recommendations – including an immediate compensation scheme and ensuring anyone who received a blood transfusion before 1996 was urgently tested for Hepatitis C.

He also called for compensation – something Mr Sunak said would come and would be outlined in the Commons on Tuesday.

But speaking to Sky News’ Sarah-Jane Mee, he warned the “disaster” of the scandal still wasn’t over, saying: “More than 3,000 have died, and deaths keep on happening week after week.

“I’d like people to take away the fact that this is not just something which happened. It is happening.”

Sir Brian said what had happened to the victims was “no accident”, adding: “People put their trust in the doctors and the government to keep them safe. That trust was betrayed.

“And then the government compounded the agony by repeatedly saying that no wrong had been done.”

But he hoped the report would ensure “these mistakes are not repeated”.

He told Sky News: “We don’t want another 30,000 people to go into hospital and come out with infections which were avoidable, which are life-shattering, which were no accident.

“And we don’t want the government to end up being defensive about them – but instead to be candid [and] forthcoming in the ways which I’ve just suggested.”

Politics

All sides aligned in non-political day for apology to infected blood victims

Published

3 hours ago

May 20, 2024

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All sides aligned in non-political day for apology to infected blood victims

After decades of denial, gaslighting and a chilling cover-up of the plight that befell thousands of victims of the infected blood scandal, finally an apology that sought to begin to make amends on this “day of shame” for the British state.

“I want to speak directly to victims and their families,” said Rishi Sunak. “I want to make a whole-hearted and unequivocal apology for this terrible injustice.

“I am truly sorry.”

It was an apology on behalf of every government stretching back to the 1970s.

Politics live: Thatcher’s health secretary ‘disparaging’ to victims

He also made “two solemn promises” at the dispatch box – comprehensive compensation will be paid and the report will be acted on.

“We must fundamentally rebalance the system so we finally address this pattern so familiar from other inquiries like Hillsborough, where innocent victims have to fight for decades just to be believed,” said the prime minister.

This was the absolute right response. The infected bloods scandal is one of the most horrifying failures of the state to its citizens as, to quote Sir Brian Langstaff, people were “failed, not once but repeatedly, by their doctors, by the bodies [the NHS and others] responsible for the safety of their treatment, and by their governments”.

There has been untold suffering caused by the very people and institutions that are meant to treat you. That in itself is unconscionable, that it was then covered up in a “subtle, pervasive and chilling way” by the NHS and government – two institutions that should be in the service of citizens – is devastating.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, looking up to address families in the Commons’ gallery, spoke to this betrayal as he told them: “Politics itself has failed you.

“That failure applies to all parties, including my own. There is only one word. Sorry.”

This was, for once, a very unpolitical day. All sides aligned, the apology fulsome and heartfelt, and agreement that whoever wins the next general election, compensation will be paid.

And, echoing the prime minister, Sir Keir added: “Lessons must be learnt to make sure nothing like this happens again. We must restore the sense that this is a country that can rectify injustice, particularly when carried out by institutions of the state.”

This is a scandal, an injustice, a cover-up that spanned decades, affected 30,000 victims and wreaked devastation on their lives and families.

Monday was the beginning of the end of a fight for justice that has been long fought and hard won. Politicians now must pay the compensation and bring in the reforms.

This scandal was one in which trust between citizens and the state wasn’t just badly broken, it was destroyed.

Today’s report, apology and promise of reparations is perhaps the beginning of trying to both right the wrongs endured by the blood scandal victims, and to begin to address the crisis of trust in government from an electorate that seems to have lost faith in the political class.