“When you’re a political party you have to act like a political party…”

Fianna Fáil may have their own problems at the moment but, before Sinn Féin showed its hand on the presential election, Fianna Fáil party leader Micheál Martin was telling some home truths about the performance of the Northern Ireland Executive.

The former Minister for Foreign Affairs said he had first hand experience of how poorly Sinn Fein had performed in the Northern Ireland Executive.

He said: “Just look at Sinn Fein’s performance in government in Northern Ireland, it’s been pretty poor in terms of their executive responsibilities.

“The Northern Ireland Executive, unfortunately, had been dysfunctional for too long because of the quality of the input of parties like Sinn Fein.

“I had experience of this as Foreign Affairs Minister, when I was involved in devolution of justice, for example.

“When you’re a political party you have to act like a political party. It’s not just about winning seats and numbers.”

That dysfunctionality hasn’t gone away, you know…

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