Mick Clifford: Sinn Féin has a lot done, but more to do for its past to be forgotten

The references made during the week in the Dáil to Sinn Féin's connections with its 'sister organisation', the Provisional IRA, are well out-of-date, but some of its recent actions don't exactly convince that it is fully committed to democracy

The smart money says that Mary Lou McDonald was hesitant on the no-confidence motion against the Justice Minister because they knew that the government parties would reach for shovels to dig up its embarrassing past. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins Photos

Sinn Féin was hammered unfairly in the Dáil this week. During a vote of confidence motion in the Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee, a succession of government deputies associated the party with the murder of gardaí, covering up child abuse and killing children with bombs. 

The association for all this was via, what was referred to as, the party’s “sister organisation”, the Provisional IRA.