Monday, December 03, 2007
Sinn Féin MLA resigns from party
Sinn Féin MLA for Fermanagh & South Tyrone, Gerry McHugh, has resigned from the party although from what I can gather he intends to remain in the Assembly as an independent MLA. I’ll add his own statement on his reasons for resigning when available but, for now, here’s the party’s version of events from Sinn Féin Assembly Group Leader John O’Dowd. Adds From the Irish News [subs req]
Update The Assembly biog of Gerry McHugh now notes his Independent status.“I have been increasingly disillusioned with the totally undemocratic nature of the party and the wholly top-down dictation within it,” Mr McHugh said. “I feel the direction Sinn Féin is taking is more about appeasement of the British government and administrating British rule in Ireland rather than working towards the end of British occupation. Assembly structures support this - at both committee and plenary level unionists have majority control. What was agreed at St Andrews cannot be delivered without unionist approval.”
Also from the Irish News report
“In the new year I will hold a series of public meetings to give people the chance to discuss the issues which are a priority for them and I will be inviting like-minded people to join me,” he said.
“I want to assure the electorate that I will continue to work hard for them both nationally and locally.”
Mr McHugh said Sinn Féin’s decision to endorse policing in the north was a “factor” in his decision.
“I have no difficulties with the idea of civil policing but I have a difficulty with the excessive amounts of MI5 and military spooks operating in the six counties,” he said.
......
“The fact that the PSNI is being used by MI5 for political policing here should be a major concern for everybody here,” he said.
Mr McHugh said he could use his independent status to further republicanism.
“I think I can bring forward the political republican agenda and fellow republicans as an independent and not be constrained by difficulties we have in the assembly with parties trying to appease each other, he said.
Pete Baker @ 11:07 AM
I didn’t post that last comment
Posted by on Dec 05, 2007 @ 07:09 PMErne west is the best
you are a complete asshole you havent a clue what your talking about FIRSTLY Gerry McHugh is a very hard working cllr and one of only a few that actually does good work for the area he represents. You said “When I needed help with a query it was the girls in the office with their professionalism that gave me the support and answers that I needed. Thats the biggest load of shite i have ever heard any time when i phoned that office that no one ever answered, maybe they were to busy smoking out the back? you actually sound like your one of the “girls in the office” blowing your own trumpet, the knifes are out for Gerry now, and anyone that knows him wont believe the rubbish your speaking. Tell the truth your not a Erne west voter, because if you were you had THREE SF cllrs in Erne West that you could have contacted at any time, Gerry not being one of them. I suspect i know who you are and this is personal between yourself and Gerry.
Gerrys departure from sinn fein will no doubt affect a few office staff and their wages?Posted by on Dec 05, 2007 @ 07:15 PM[get back to the ball - edited moderator]
Stick to the politics or is that beyond your capabilities. out of interest there is an ex army soldier on the monument to volunteers killed in roslea he was good enough to be a republican.
Posted by on Dec 05, 2007 @ 07:44 PMHaving gone back and reading the previous few pages i am totally shocked that some of the people leaving messages especially,TARA,MERRY CHRISTMAS and MARY. you all have really lowered yourself to start talking about someones private life and their relationship with someone. It really sounds like you are all current Sinn Fein members and are trying to damage Gerry’s reputation, you all seem to know alot more than the ordinary Sinn Fein voter would regurding Gerry’s personal life, you cant convince me otherwise
. If this is the level of your political intelligence and how you can engage debates i would recommend that you also resign from the party as your an embarssment.Posted by on Dec 05, 2007 @ 07:50 PMwhat a surprise out of 8 councillors in strabane only 3 volunteered for the policing boards the spare seats were donated to the DUP. perhaps Gerry had a point I was told recently in Dungannon it was the same there they had to coerce people into joining. Perhaps the sf leadership will start listening now and review their direction. The people on the ground as well as those in elected position should stop vilifying everyone who doesn’t toe party line and look at ways of including them in discussion that is acted upon before more supporters walk. most people who signed up to policing didn’t read the small print and trusted that party leadership could deliver what they promised. roll on may 8th.
Posted by on Dec 05, 2007 @ 08:43 PMMerry Christmas and Mary you should try and disguise yourself abit better seeing as your both the same person as your Email proves
Email .
Your obviously not to BRIGHT.
Very Very pathetic, writing questions and then answering them YOURSELF. What and who’s agenda are you working to, its certainly not a Republican one.Posted by on Dec 05, 2007 @ 08:44 PMMick,
To clarify from earlier you said Gerry confirmed he was not an ex-prisoner. He was interned though?
It was raised as an issue by the SF cadre loading the thread with smears so it might be helpful to clarify if his prison based credentials equal that of their non-IRA leader.
Posted by on Dec 05, 2007 @ 09:33 PMno gerry was never interred.
Posted by on Dec 05, 2007 @ 10:04 PMMick Hall,
it is possible to have differences with fellow republicans without descending into the gutter.
It’s the nature of some humans, regardless of their political affiliation. This latest SF-multi-persona reminds me of the SDLP-multi-persona who entertained this website after the Assembly elections.
Posted by on Dec 06, 2007 @ 07:26 AMit may appear to be the nature in some humans but definately all politicians.
Not to worry i`m sure the chuckie sorri chuckle twins and donald will be giving us nice people a beautiful golf course with 1,600 new houses etc (when one door closes another one opens for sweeney and the gang)
Can we have a nice casino to go with it (what`s that u say) we`re getting 1 each for the lads.
I can just imagine the headache this will give the land registery office. But nothing to fear as long as its all boxed off with whitehall as part of their retirement fund. We could call it the TREASON LINKS.Posted by on Dec 06, 2007 @ 11:15 AMTara, Christmas Turkey, etc,
Your comments have been nothing short of a disgrace. Really.
First off, you are making all types of claims about what Gerry didn’t do, ie. go through the proper channels before going to the press.
Its quite obvious that you have no clue what you are talking about. Did you read the Fermanagh Herald yesterday? There were numerous attempts to go through the ‘proper channels’ but to no avail. No surprise really. Tell me this though, if someone resigns are you suggesting that they should not explain themselves to the public via an appropriate media outlet? Shou,d they just leave it open to speculation, or better still allow people like you to explain it? Judging by your comments here i’m sure all neutrals, at least, will see the sense in him being pro-active in explaining himself.
Secondly, all this talk that he stood as SF so he should no resign the seat is pure hypocrisy. Full stop. SF had absolutely no problems with people who stood as one thing, only later to join SF, bringing with them their seat, won under another label. So any SF’ner who is not just as indignant and calling for SF and the likes of Billy Leonard (RUC/SDLP Cllr), Thomas Pringle (Independent Cllr Donegal, in SF, now back out) and Gerry Murray (FF Cllr, now SF) to hang their heads in shame is an absolute hypocrite and fool.
Posted by on Dec 06, 2007 @ 03:09 PMTotally agree with you Redhaze some of the comments by these people were a discrace, but i suspect that they had a personal grudge with gerry to settle.
From the Impartial ReporterFermanagh/south Tyrone MLA Mr. Gerry McHugh has resigned from Sinn Fein citing “bullying” from leadership at a local level.
The Enniskillen Councillor said that “local bullying” was the catalyst behind his recent resignation. Describing himself as “hamstung” by the party, he said his questioning of Sinn Fein Minister Conor Murphy about Enniskillen’s congestion problems in the Stormont Assembly had got him in “considerable trouble”.
“I can say what I like now in the Assembly chamber. To me that makes a big difference. It is with tremendous regret I have to leave the party. I have worked hard for them through the years. There have to be good reasons for someone like me to walk away,” he said.
A member of Sinn Fein since 1980, he said he has noticed changes within it in recent years.
“Locally how I did my work would have been questioned all the time. I would have been bullied into how I did my work. It put particular pressure on me personally to actually make this move. I feel with my experience I know well enough how I did my work and what I should put in the press. Sometimes I did not agree with the party on what to say on a subject including the NIPSA strike.
I was demanded to speak on behalf of the party and I wasn’t sure it was the right thing for Fermanagh. Independent thought is not certainly encouraged in our part of the locality,” he said.
“Since I have gone into the Assembly . . . the driving forward for a united Ireland seems to be on a back burner in order to keep co-operation with the two big parties.
“Since I have been elected I have noticed a considerable change away from what people wanted to where we are now.
“I am not isolated on this,” he said.
He rejected claims that the party had not been made aware of his concerns. He said he and all other the Sinn Fein Councillors on Fermanagh District Council 12 months ago, excepting Pat Cox who was away, wrote to the party’s Six County Committee about concerns they had, including issues surrounding policing.
Asked if there was a crisis in Sinn Fein in Fermanagh he said: “That is for them to decide whether or not they are”.
At Assembly level he found he “could not always speak on issues that I wanted to for Fermanagh in particular”. “The Roads DRD committee has 11 members, none of them west of the Bann. Three Sinn Fein members are east of Bann. Imagine the kind of representation we are getting,” he said.
He referred to the dictatorship within the party. “We would have a code of regulations on how to say things and how to do things actually from the Six County committee. That is a few people who are Belfast-based,” he said.
He loses a base in the Sinn Fein Market Street office in Enniskillen but said constituents could contact him on his mobile phone.“I intend to work on the local and political agenda in a Republican way. I will use my platform in a Republican way,” he said.
Earlier this year Councillor Poilin Ui Cathain resigned her seat over the issue of policing and in recent months Councillor Bernice Swift was suspended from the party over her comments about policing.
Posted by on Dec 06, 2007 @ 03:57 PMThe 3 amego`s run the show. u say as they say u do as they say. suffer all the little sheep
DISCONTENTION WILL NOT BE TOLERATED They haven`t gone away ye know.
Posted by on Dec 06, 2007 @ 09:02 PMWhat utter dribble!
Posted by on Dec 07, 2007 @ 12:13 AMBloody hell, what went on in that thread goes a long way to confirm McHugh’s view of SF.
I think there was even somebody attacking him for “questioning the leadership.”
Blackshirts in waiting..
Posted by on Dec 07, 2007 @ 05:03 AMOnly one winner when people talk like this and that won’t be SF, McHugh, or any contributors to this site.
Posted by on Dec 07, 2007 @ 08:28 AMhttp://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=NHOf3s70w-c
Posted by on Dec 07, 2007 @ 09:44 AMhttp://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=o6KLpIDbfTw
Posted by on Dec 07, 2007 @ 09:55 AM
