SINN FÉIN has selected sitting MEP Bairbre de Brún as its Northern Ireland candidate in next year’s European elections. She was selected unopposed at a party meeting in Belfast last night.
Party president Gerry Adams said Sinn Féin would be the only party fielding a candidate in each of the five constituencies throughout the island of Ireland.
On that basis, the party would strive between now and next June to maximise the republican vote throughout Ireland.
Mr Adams used his speech to castigate the DUP for its stance at Stormont, claiming that some elements within that party remained opposed to the principle of powersharing. Accusing Peter Robinson and his party of “retreating from its obligations under the St Andrews agreement”, Mr Adams said the DUP had also “failed to embrace partnership government; they have run away from policing and justice obligations; they seek the retention of an outdated class-based education system and have sought to undermine the rights and entitlements of Irish speakers”.
He said the position adopted by the DUP since June, the last time the Stormont Executive met, was a challenge to all of the parties “and in particular to the two governments”.
In that time the DUP had avoided any real engagement, Mr Adams said.