'Up the Republic, up the Ra, and Tiocfaidh ár lá' - Sinn Fein TD David Cullinane

Additional reporting by Darragh Murphy

David Cullinane, the Waterford Sinn Féin poll-topper has sparked controversy after being recorded saying “Up the Ra” at an event after his election.

Speaking this evening, Mr Cullinane defended his comments and said he didn't mean to cause offence.

In a video, Mr Cullinane is seen speaking to a number of people and references the fact that Sinn Féin received over 20,000 first preference votes and was elected on the first count.

“They didn’t break the hunger strikers, they didn’t break Bobby Sands and Kevin Lynch, they’ll never break us, they’ll never break Sinn Féin,” he said.

He concludes: “What we say is, up the Republic, up the Ra, and tiocfaidh ár lá.”

Speaking to Matt Cooper on The Last Word on Today FM, Mr Cullinane said that he “never distanced himself at all from the IRA, or from Bobby Sands, and the people who died on hunger strike, or for those were involved in the armed struggle.

“I’m never one who will distance myself from Sinn Féin’s past, or the IRA’s past. I don’t agree with everything the IRA did. Of course I don’t. Do I think Martin McGuinness was wrong to join the IRA? No I don’t… the bottom line is that the IRA is gone, it doesn’t mean we don’t celebrate or commemorate those volunteers,” he said.

Mr Cullinane, when challenged by this reporter reiterated his refusal to apologise for being a republican.

“I’m not going to apologise for the depth of feeling I have for those people who made that sacrifice,” he said about Sands and Lynch.

Mr Cullinane said it was a very emotional day for him but that the comments were not about the future.

"Obviously we were very excited and very proud of the vote we got in Waterford," he said.

"The 30-second clip was part of a broader and longer speech that I gave where I was reflecting back on the hunger strikes, reflecting back on the fact that Kevin Lynch stood in the Waterford constituency back in 1981.

"He was someone that inspired me and inspired many republicans, the comments were made in that context.

I know some people will think the comments were about the here and the now and the future, they weren't.

"It was reflecting back on that time in Irish history that I'm proud of and those hunger strikers and it was I suppose part of the excitement of the night when we were celebrating that victory.

"My comments were about the past, they were not about the future, the IRA is gone as everybody knows."

Mr Cullinane added: "We have a very successful peace process and what this election is about is the future and I think our focus now over the next while will be the talks that we will be involved and the issues that we campaigned on this election, and that's the mandate that I got from the people of Waterford to try and deliver on the promises that we made.

"I don't feel I have to apologise for reflecting back on that time period. What I'm saying is that I'm putting context on the comments that I made.

I in no way meant that this was about the here and now or the future.

"I was reflecting back - if people saw the full clip - on what was a very emotional time for republicans and as someone who stood in a constituency that a hunger striker previously stood in, in the context of a long campaign, a long day, and a long night.

"I think that's the context in which the comments were made, I think most people would see that, I certainly don't set out to offend anyone, that's not my style.

"I'm very proud of that republican legacy."

Mary Lou McDonald denied suggestions that the controversial video will hinder the talks process ahead.

"I do accept, and we all accept, that they can serve as a distraction," she added.

"I've asked everybody not to be making throwaway comments or comments that can be misconstrued or distract us from the work ahead and I know that certainly that's what happened in David's case."

Asked whether she has appealed to Sinn Fein TDs not to make any "throwaway comments", Mrs McDonald added: "I'm not their mammy and I don't censor them either.

"We're all adults and I do expect people to behave in an adult way and to cooperate with their dear leader and not to create distractions.

"Let's not get overexcited on this."

The Greens' Marc Ó Cathasaigh, a teacher from Tramore, began the day several hundred votes behind Fine Gael candidates John Cummins and Damien Geoghegan, but a surge of transfers from People Before Profit's Una Dunphy helped Cllr Ó Cathasaigh, who first came to prominence in the green wave of the 2019 local elections.

"It's mainly nervous exhaustion at this stage," Ó Cathasaigh said as he celebrated a surprise result for the Greens. "The processing of any finer options will happen later on. We have upwards of 25,000 doors canvassed, all day every day. We left nothing out on the pitch. It'll take a while for it to sink in, but the vote today was Left - and it stayed Left - and that helped me.

"It's been a very hectic last 12 months. It's been a steep learning curve in the council - the county development plan is coming down the tracks and Green thinking is essential for forward planning. We have to put climate action and biodiversity front and centre.

"We may have tripled our mandate. The main story is the rise of Sinn Fein, but there's also the rise of the Green Party vote. Last time out we narrowly broke 2% nationally. This time out we comfortable broke 7%."

The seventh and last count saw Ó Cathasaigh see off a late challenge from Fine Gael's John Cummins, who picked up 2,597 out of Damien Geoghegan's 5,549 votes - a big internal transfer - but not enough.

It means Fine Gael have failed to elect a TD in Waterford for the first time in party history (there was a brief interregnum from December 1966 to June 1969 without a Fine Gael TD, due to the death of TD Teddy Lynch and a subsequent by-election).