The Sinn Féin leader apologizes for the murder of Mountbatten

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has apologized for the assassination of Lord Mountbatten by the IRA more than 40 years ago.

The comments, the next day the funeral of Mountbatten’s nephew, Prince Philip, marks a clear change of tone from that of his predecessor Gerry Adams, who said the member of the royal family “knew the danger” posed by coming to Ireland.

Speaking to Times Radio, the Times and Sunday Times, McDonald said the 79-year-old partner’s death on holiday, two children and a family friend off the coast of Sligo County in 1979 was “heartbreaking.” .

Asked if he would apologize to Prince Charles, great-grandson of Mountbatten and particularly close to him, he replied: “The army and armed forces associated with Prince Charles carried out many, many violent actions on our island. And I can say , of course, I’m sorry it happened. “

The IRA, a paramilitary organization that was closely linked to Sinn Féin for much of Northern Ireland’s troubled history, claimed responsibility for the bombing on a ship that killed the commander-in-chief of World War II. , his 14-year-old grandson Nicholas Knatchbull. crew member Paul Maxwell, 15, and Lady Brabourne, 83. Several people on board were also injured.

Police chiefs in Northern Ireland and the Republic last year said Sinn Féin was still so supervised by the IRA army council, despite Republican claims that it had been dissolved in 2005. McDonald said in 2015 that the IRA “does not exist” and that “it was not a spokesperson for the IRA.”

On Sunday, he described Mountbatten’s death as “heartbreaking” and added: “I have an absolute responsibility to make sure no family faces this again and I’m happy to reiterate that the weekend that your queen buried her beloved husband “.

At a meeting with Prince Charles in 2015, former Sinn Féin leader Adams did not apologize for the IRA bombing, instead telling the press that he was on the side of previous comments that Mountbatten “I knew the danger” to come to Ireland. “I’m not one of those people who engages in revisionism,” Adams was saying at the time. “Fortunately the war is over.”

A Sinn Féin spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a question about the importance of the change in tone, which occurs in the middle of a period of sectarian unrest in Northern Ireland with the context of Brexit and a possible vote on the separation of the UK region.

MacDonald said the Northern Ireland protocol, which has outraged unionists by placing a customs border between the region and Britain and has amassed significant bureaucracy in businesses in both communities, was “necessary” but “unelegant” .

Unionist protests against the protocol spread in violent clashes in the two communities for eight days after Good Friday. A week of calm followed when protests over the death of Prince Philip were suspended. They will resume on Monday, in which some fears could lead to further unrest.