Michelle O'Neil says attending Coronation was 'right thing to do'
Sinn Fein’s vice president Michelle O’Neil says attending the King’s Coronation was ‘the right thing to do’ after she joined other party leaders from Northern Ireland at the ceremony
- Her presence is seen as another demonstration of improved relations between Irish republican movement and Royal Family
- Ms O’Neill said this year that differing political aspirations should be respected
Sinn Fein’s vice president said last night that attending the King’s Coronation was ‘the right thing to do’.
Michelle O’Neill attended the ceremony in Westminster Abbey on Saturday alongside other party leaders from Northern Ireland, including the DUP’s leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson.
Her presence at the Coronation is seen as another demonstration of the markedly improved relations between the Irish republican movement and the Royal Family since the peace process.
At the party’s 2023 local election manifesto launch in Newry, Ms O’Neill said that differing political aspirations should be respected.
She explained: ‘I attended the Coronation event because I believe that that was the right thing to do.
Pictured: Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’Neill after King Charles Coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey in London on May 6, 2023
‘I believe that if we’re going to build a better society and look towards the future, and a better future for our children and our grandchildren, then we have to have the confidence in ourselves and who we are and to respect our differences. And we all have equally legitimate political aspirations and outlooks and that’s OK. But let’s be comfortable enough to be respectful of each other. Let’s be comfortable enough to build that better future.
‘And let’s keep our eyes on the next 25 years, and we’ve just celebrated 25 years of the Good Friday Agreement, and what’s been achieved is amazing despite all the political ups and downs.’
She added: ‘And I’m focused on the future, and we’ve talked about change and the changing political landscape and where we want things to go in the future – let’s make sure that everybody feels comfortable and feels valued and is treated equally in our society because then we’d have the recipe for something better for everybody.’
Michelle O’Neill (file photo). Ms O’Neill attended the Coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey on Saturday alongside other party leaders from Northern Ireland, including the DUP’s leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson
Sinn Fein’s president Mary Lou McDonald said Ms O’Neill’s representation of the party at the Coronation was a show of respect for Unionists.
‘I just wanted to say very clearly that Michelle’s attendance, Sinn Fein’s attendance at the Coronation, was a mark of recognition and respect for our Unionist citizens, for British people who are British now in a partitioned Ireland, and who will be British in the United Ireland, and it’s an explicit recognition of that,’ she said.
Ms McDonald added: ‘We all live here together, for goodness’s sake, when there is an act of respect, kindness, inclusion, let’s take that. That’s what I think we should do for each other.’
Source: Read Full Article