SINN FÉIN’S READA CRONIN has apologised to for “hurried” comments she made in a committee meeting on Ukraine yesterday.
Speaking in the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence yesterday, which was attended by the Ukrainian Ambassador to Ireland, Larysa Gerasko, Cronin said the comments were “misinterpreted”.
She told the committee yesterday that she had not heard much discussion about peace efforts during the meeting, stating:
“Talking about genocidal wars, there are two awful wars at the moment in Ukraine and Gaza – I believe today has been absolutely horrendous. All war is horrendous and I would like to hear more about peace efforts.
“We brought peace to our country and we had to give up the Six Counties. Our island is not united. Getting peace in our country meant us having to row back. We had a referendum and we had to give up our ownership of the Six Counties. That is hard.
“You have to keep working for peace but we are still in a better place in Ireland than we were back when the war was going on,” she concluded.
There were criticisms of her comments from the likes of Fianna Fáil Senator Timmy Dooley who claimed the prospect of giving up land was being proposed.
In the Dáil today, Cronin took the opportunity to apologise for her statement, stating that the Sinn Féin position on the war in Ukraine “is clear”.
“We support the territorial integrity of Ukraine and utterly condemn the invasion. But what I said in the committee yesterday was an attempt to set out that peace is the only way forward.
“But I made my point in a hurried way that was somehow misinterpreted. To Ukrainian people who thought I was suggesting that they accept an unjust peace, that was certainly not the case and I apologise for that, to Ukrainians, if that’s what they heard. It was not what I intended nor indeed what I think,” she said.
As Christmas approaches, Cronin said it reminds us all of the need to work for peace and resolve conflicts worldwide.
“Because peace is not a dirty word. We must continue that work at home and we must bring that message to the world, especially around this time coming up to Christmas,” she said.
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