Mary Lou McDonald launches scathing attack on DUP

Sinn Féin's deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald has launched a scathing attack on the North's outgoing First Minister Arlene Foster and the DUP, and indicated that Sinn Féin's demand for Arlene Foster to stand aside as First Minister would remain after an election.

Such a demand is likely to block the formation of any new power-sharing administration after the expected Stormont Assembly elections.

The Northern Assembly has collapsed following Martin McGuinness's resignation as Deputy First Minister over Ms Foster's response to the "cash-for-ash" controversy.

The renewable heat incentive (RHI) scheme, which has become known as “cash for ash”, was introduced when Ms Foster was minister for enterprise.

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It was supposed to offer a proportion of the cost businesses had to pay to use eco-friendly boilers, but the subsidy tariffs were set too high.

Without a cap, it ended up paying out significantly more than the price of the fuel.

The Executive faces an overspend of about €600 million as a result of the scheme.

Sinn Féin had been demanding that Ms Foster stand aside pending an investigation of the RHI scheme.

Asked if Sinn Féin would form an Executive with Ms Foster after an election, Ms McDonald said: “The position won’t change at either side of an election as to the need for her to stand aside if she were to be in a Ministerial position, for [a “cash for ash” scheme] investigation to proceed.”

Speaking to journalists at Leinster House on Tuesday afternoon, Ms McDonald also said that any resuscitation of the power-sharing administration after an election “will require the DUP to do significant soul-searching, to change their approach, to appreciate the realities of political life”.

She said that the DUP had to “understand that the population, whether orange or green . . . won’t tolerate on the basis of tribal blindness malpractice, bad government or blatant discrimination.

“It’s not on. It’s not acceptable.”

Power-sharing would not work, Ms McDonald said, “where one party so clearly and so frequently pokes the other party in the eye, but worse than that, sets out to deny basic democratic rights to sections of the population.

“That is not a runner.”

She said that the DUP were “people who assume they have a divine right to govern and that they can thumb their nose at their partners in government and, by extension, at the general public”.

‘Disastrous scheme’

Referring to the RHI scheme, Ms McDonald said that Ms Foster was “the instigator, the overseer of this disastrous scheme.

“She has refused to stand aside to allow a fully independent inquiry. That is her position.

“Her party backs her. I have to say it is very much in line with the sort of arrogant position that they have taken for a very long time.

“And there comes a point in political life where you have to call things. Our view now is that it is over to the people to have their say on these matters,” Ms McDonald said.

“Arlene Foster and the DUP seem to me to be living in a state of denial. I think they need to get over that.

“They need to understand that the game is up, that we are facing into elections, that as we come out of these elections these big issues need to be resolved, and the fundamental underlying difficulty of the DUP refusing to be Good Friday Agreement-compliant, their refusal to respect minorities, their refusal to respect people’s democratic rights, will no longer be tolerated.

“Patience is a great virtue, but patience is not infinite.”