Varadkar's 'Protestant' comments 'crass attempt at political point scoring', says Sinn Féin leader 

Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald said the Tánaiste had apologised because he was wrong, 'absolutely I accept that and I hope there's no repeat of it'. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has described Tánaiste Leo Varadkar’s comments on Wednesday about her party’s lack of Protestant public representatives as “a crass attempt at political point-scoring”. It was not true that Sinn Féin was sectarian and anti-British, she told RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne show. 

“In fact, at the core of Irish republican philosophy is the ambition to unite Catholic, Protestant and dissenter, and in modern terms you could extend that way beyond those particular denominations or descriptors, absolutely not.