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A SINN FÉIN member of the Northern Assembly is coming under fire for describing Northern Ireland as a ‘putrid little statelet’.
Maskey, a representative for west Belfast, made the initial comment via Twitter in response to an unrelated tweet from SDLP leader Colum Eastwood.
“Unfortunately it took more than the CRA (Civil Rights Association) to secure rights in the putrid little statelet NI,” he said.
The tweet has been excoriated by unionists who suggest it can only be interpreted as legitimising the IRA’s campaign of violence during The Troubles with regard to civil rights abuses in the North.
Last night, DUP MP at Westminster Emma Little Pengelly said that Maskey’s words exemplify “a continued attitude of disrespect within Sinn Fein”, and said unionists are “entitled to know whether such comments are representative of Mary Lou McDonald’s view when she talks about ‘unionist brothers and sisters’”.
Maskey’s tweet is a further headache for the Irish and British governments as they attempt to coax both sides of the Assembly into reforming a functioning executive in Northern Ireland.
The Assembly has been dissolved, leaving the North with no functioning government, since January of 2017.
Defending his tweet, Maskey said that “the northern state was a unionist-dominated apartheid state, founded on religious and civil discrimination and which denied citizens fundamental rights such as the right to vote” and condemned the “faux outrage” expressed by unionists at his comments.
“Peaceful civil rights demonstrators were beaten off the streets in an effort to crush the demands for civil and human rights, special powers were used to suppress protest, and the state forces played an active role in sectarian pogroms of the 1920s, 1930s and 1960s,” he said.
The Unionist party presided over all of that.
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This is my worst fear in work, I feel so sorry for all concerned including the families. Hopefully it will give the general population an idea of the risks ordinary people put themselves through in order to advance our society… May they rest in peace
Tragic tragedy. Tragic.
The fact that the brave rescue workers had to do this awful job under the glare of so many camera phones is disturbing. Have a bit of decency people
Tragically the health and safety requirements imposed on them for doing their job contributed to their deaths hopefully lessons can be learnt from it and systems put in place to prevent it happening again
rip to the families of the deceased. as for your comments a bit of sensitivity wouldn’t go astray no one know what happened yet
Exactly Tom, but having worked in exactly that type of man cage over both water and land (but mostly water) for 17 years it really annoys me when people start speculating on accidents (especially when I was nearly involved in one myself) a terrifying thing to be involved in and a heart breaking loss of life, RIP to those involved and their families.
The accounts of what happened about the inflation of the life jackets came from the rescue workers and are referred to in three different newspapers. It seems unlikely that the families of the tragically deceased men will be checking The Journal on this.
It is in the public interest that the full facts emerge as quickly as possible and that safety protocols be revised, if necessary, in light of the tragedy. Human life is too important to wait for an Inquest, which may be long delayed.
Anyone working from a safety cage over water needs to ensure that they are safe and that defective safety protocols do not end up being counter productive.
You can’t secure life jackets to anything. They must have been knocked unconscious and their life jackets needed manual deployment instead of the valve dissolving on contact with water. RIP to both men
Ironically, lifejackets seem to be part of the problem here – they deployed automatically and (together with the harnesses) impeded their escape.
It says they were believed to be harnessed to the cage, and nothing is mentioned about lifejackets in the article
It’s not mentioned in the article, but apparently that’s what happened.
“Apparently” is a word not used in accident investigations, just like lifejackets are not mentioned in this article, it’s ALWAYS the relevant facts which are important not hearsay.
Acvording to this article the facts mentioned above are accurate. http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/two-workers-who-died-following-6348686
So why aren’t you commenting on that article, the point is lifejackets are not mentioned in this one.
I’m simply pointing out where they may have gotton their information from.
OK Sarah, no worries
The information on the life jackets came from one of the rescue workers and is referred to in three newspapers today. The information is not yet confirmed by independent examination but the accounts given by the rescue workers seem reliable. It’s difficult to see what motivation they would have for fabricating false accounts.
The accounts confirmed that the life jackets automatically inflated when contact was made with water. Tragically, it seems that the poor men were trapped by their life jackets. It seems sensible that procedures should be reviewed. There is no excuse for the loss of life of employees when working.
I’m sorry Alan, I didn’t realise you got to decide what people can and can’t say in their comments…
@Alan, the issue with the life jackets was public knowledge yesterday and was reported on some radio stations. Would you believe that there are more than one sources of news!!
Likewise Avina
A horrible horrible tragedy, and yet like so many tragedies this so easily could have been averted, god rest these poor unfortunate men, and god give their families strength.
May they rest in peace
I have to ask but might they have survived if there was still an a&e at st John’s?
There’s still is a (limited) one in St John’s anyway.
The search and rescue crew are highly trained and have specialist cardiac equipment on board also as far as I know. And the ambulances arrived within minutes.
Health & Safety regulations in the dock here. May these poor men rest in peace and deepest condolences too their families.
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