Sinn Fein Accuses May of Breaking Good Friday Agreement

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams is accusing British Prime Minister Theresa May of violating the terms Good Friday Agreement.   He met with May today at her official residence.

“We told the British Prime Minister that her government is in default of the Good Friday agreement,” Adams tweeted.  Sinn Fein is an Irish nationalist party in Northern Ireland. The accusation was in reference to May’s plan to form a coalition with Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

The DUP is a nationalist party formed by Ian Paisley, a protestant cleric infamous for calling the Pope an anti-Christ.  The party capitalized on the 1970’s “troubles,” in Northern Ireland by pitting unionists wanting to stay in the United Kingdom against mostly Catholic Nationalists wanting a united Ireland.   Adams also demands that any arrangement between the two parties be made public.

Adams met with May to talk about restoring devolved power to Northern Ireland.  He met with the Social Democratic and Labour Party leader Colum Eastwood who expressed similar concerns.  “There can’t be a deal that affects and infects the talks process,” he said, according to the party’s twitter feed.   He held a separate meeting with May.

May is committed to devolved government in Northern Ireland before a June 29 deadline set by parliament.  “The Northern Ireland secretary will continue to engage with the parties before this crucial deadline and if no resolution is reached then we will need to consider what steps we need to take, to ensure Northern Ireland has the political stability it needs,” she said in a BBC article.

The idea of a coalition hasn’t sat well with Scottish Conservatives either.  The Telegraph reports say leader Ruth Davidson is working on a plan to break away from the party.  She denied it on twitter. “Folk might remember I fought a leadership election on the other side of that particular argument.”  Davidson became leader in 2011. 

May’s Conservatives won the election June 8, with what’s known as a hung parliament.  Her party lost the majority mandate, but held onto more seats than the other parties.  As Prime Minister, she is the first party leader to meet the house, and test a mandate.  The firs step in that process is the Queen’s Speech, scheduled for Wednesday June 21.