First Minister accused of ‘trying to rewrite history of IRA campaign’

Northern Ireland’s First Minister has been accused of “attempting to rewrite the history of the IRA’s terrorist campaign”.

It comes after an interview Michelle O’Neill gave in which a DUP and TUV representative accused her of “trying to shift blame onto the British state”.

During the interview with the Irish Times newspaper, Ms O’Neill referred to “local lads” being killed by the British state, including her cousin Tony Doris, a member of the IRA who was shot dead in an SAS ambush in Coagh in 1991.

Asked whether she can understand why those who were bereaved by the IRA take issue with her attending republican commemorations, she said she respected there are “many people out there that have a different narrative than me”.

She said: “I respect that that’s their view. It’s also perhaps their lived experience, but mine’s different” adding that part of reconciling is “actually understanding that it’s okay – we may have different narratives, but we need to respect that is actually the case”.

“That understanding is what allows me to say what I can say – what I said whenever I became First Minister – because I absolutely am sorry that anybody lost a loved one. I’m so sorry we lived in a society that (had) a conflict,” she said.

DUP MLA Trevor Clarke claimed Ms O’Neill’s comments “are a deeply offensive and pathetic attempt to rewrite the brutal history of the IRA’s terrorist campaign”.

“Seeking to shift blame onto the British state while defending those who were on ‘active service’ with the IRA and were dealt with by the security forces is repugnant and shows a complete disregard for the suffering inflicted on innocent victims,” he said.

“These remarks are not the words of a leader seeking to represent all communities. They are the words of someone still trying to justify and sanitise sectarian, ruthless murder.”

TUV party chairman Allister Kyle claimed the interview “revealed a deeply warped view”.

“Let us be clear: those who were neutralised by the security forces were not simply ‘local lads’,” he said.

“They were active terrorists caught in the act of attempting to murder soldiers, police officers, and civilians.

“This attempt to sanitise the IRA and recast gunmen as victims of ‘the British state’ is not only historically dishonest — it is an insult to the thousands of victims who suffered at the hands of republican violence.

“The record stands: the security forces saved lives. The IRA took them. No amount of spin can change that.”