Sinn Féin has no intention of being reckless with powersharing – McDonald
By Rebecca Black, Press Association
Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald has said her party has “no intention of being reckless” with power-sharing government in Northern Ireland.
She was speaking after sharp exchanges between Sinn Féin and the DUP over the funding of the Place Name Project, which helps councils with Irish-English street sign translations.
DUP Communities Minister Gordon Lyons has denied an accusation by Sinn Fein of cutting the £90,000 annual funding for the scheme.
He claimed it had been funded for the past four years by the Department of Finance.
However the Department of Finance said responsibility for the scheme had been transferred in 2022 with the understanding that Lyons’s department would be responsible for the longer-term funding.
Economy Minister Caoimhe Archibald then stepped in, and indicated her department is now looking whether it can secure the future of the scheme.
Speaking at Parliament Buildings, Stormont on Thursday, Ms McDonald said it is “absolutely unacceptable that such a hostile approach has been taken to that project”, describing it as a “positive thing to any fair minded person”.
She went on to say her party has “no intention of being reckless” but emphasised their “absolute determination” to advocate for the Irish language.
“The amount of money involved in funding, it was very small, about £90,000, and in any event Caoimhe Archibald has intervened to sort that matter out,” she said.
“Sinn Féin has no intention of being in any way reckless in terms of political delivery for people right across the north, far from it.
“We want to do the best job we can, we want to deliver for people in a way that is fair and balanced and decent.
“If others think that they will goad us into knee jerk responses, they are very, very wrong, but let me also say this…
“Nobody should misunderstand our absolute determination to defend the Irish language, to defend Irish national identity, to defend the concepts of respect and equality.
“We demand that for ourselves, for those that we represent and we afford that to those that are represented by others.”
She added: “If we can all play to that standard, I would suggest we’re going to have much better politics and much better delivery for everybody right across our communities.”
