McGuinness gaffes on Republic’s politics
It is not the first time a senior party figure has shown a less than stellar grasp of southern politics — Gerry Adams was famously weak on economic issues during the 2007 election campaign.
After a lengthy interview about the presidency with Ray D’Arcy on Today FM, Mr McGuinness was asked three quick questions to gauge his knowledge of southern affairs.
Asked how many TDs were in the Dáil, he wrongly said 168. The correct answer is 166.
Asked who the Environment Minister was, he replied: “Don’t know.”
The answer is Phil Hogan.
Finally, he was asked who won the All-Ireland hurling final.
“That’s very easy to answer — Kilkenny,” said Mr McGuinness, adding he was a big Gaelic games fan.
Earlier in the interview, Mr McGuinness had again defended his IRA past and said the Irish people would judge him “in the round”.
“[After Bloody Sunday] the people of Dublin went out and burned the British embassy. We didn’t have a British embassy to burn. So many of us joined the IRA… I believe we had a right to fight back against the British army who were trying to humiliate us at that time,” he said.
“The people of Ireland are fairer and much more just than those who would try and recriminate about my past. They will see me in the round, whereas some people are looking for spectacular headlines.”
Mr McGuinness said he would be prepared to meet the Queen as head of state were he elected president.
He said he would also be “very glad” to meet Prince Charles, whom he understood had been keen to meet him for some time.
Mr McGuinness said he had been able to “make peace” with Ian Paisley and Peter Robinson of the DUP and “build bridges” in the North. He wanted to continue that work, and said he would take forward the work done by presidents Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese, if elected to the Áras.
He also reiterated that he would take only the average industrial wage if elected, and would consider using the rest of the €250,000 salary to employ several young people.
On religious issues, Mr McGuinness said he was a “broad-minded” Catholic who believed in God and forgiveness and went to confession, but was massively disillusioned by the child abuse scandal within the Church.
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