Martina Anderson apologises 'unreservedly' for hurt caused in offensive tweet

By Michael McHugh and Rebecca Black, PA

Sinn Fein MLA Martina Anderson has apologised for claiming a compensation scheme for those injured in the Troubles was “mainly for those who fought Britain’s dirty war”.

The comment sparked anger and hurt among the victims’ community, many of whom have been campaigning for years to secure the payments which have been repeatedly delayed due to political rows over who should qualify.

Ms Anderson deleted her original tweet amid a furious backlash.

The original tweet claimed the compensation scheme would “discriminate, criminalise and exclude” those with paramilitary convictions.

It claimed the payments would mostly go to “those involved in collusion” and British troops – for instance, paratroopers involved in shootings in Ballymurphy in west Belfast in 1971 and on Bloody Sunday in 1972 – adding they were “mainly for those who fought Britain’s dirty war in Ireland”.

Nobel Peace Prize winner and former SDLP leader John Hume is searched by army officials.

Jennifer McNern, who lost lost both legs in an IRA bomb attack on the Abercorn Restaurant in 1972, said victims have campaigned for more than a decade for people who have been injured through no fault of their own.

“If you see the people who are applying for this pension – they are blind, they are paralysed and they are amputees,” she told the BBC.

“That is the people who will avail of this pension when it opens.”

On Wednesday the Sinn Fein MLA issued an apology for the tweet.

She posted that she “apologised unreservedly for the hurt and offence caused by my tweet to people who suffered serious harm during the conflict here”.

pic.twitter.com/E7XygJTJSH

— Martina Anderson MLA (@M_AndersonSF) August 26, 2020

“My comments were clumsy, were not directed at them and it was never my intention to cause them any hurt,” Ms Anderson wrote.

“All victims of the conflict deserve acknowledgement of their pain and loss, and I support them in their efforts to get their pension.”

Ulster Unionist MLA Doug Beattie acknowledged the apology but pressed for Sinn Fein to make their views on the matter known.

“Martina may well have apologised for her last insulting tweet regarding the Victims Pension Scheme….. But this Sinn Fein #misinformation remains and in doing so creates confusion, anger and hurt,” he wrote on Twitter.

The row comes as Sinn Fein remains at odds with other parties over who should qualify for compensation payments for the injured, with the republican party arguing former terrorists should not be excluded.

There has been political disagreement over whether anyone convicted of inflicting serious harm during the Troubles should qualify for payments, and over who should fund the scheme.

Justice Minister Naomi Long has said the payments to the most badly hurt could cost £800 million.

Sinn Féin have a right to their view about how the government has implemented the pension. They have a right to make their case as has every party.

They do not have a right to launch such vitriol at those who will qualify or smear them in this way.

— Naomi Long MLA (@naomi_long) August 25, 2020

Sinn Fein Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill said: “As joint head of Government I remain committed to delivering a Victims Payment scheme, which is needs based and open to all who were seriously physically and psychologically injured during the conflict.”

Last week, Sinn Fein’s vice-president was highly criticised by the High Court for refusing to comply with a legislative requirement to set up the scheme to gain political leverage over the UK Government.

The joint legal challenge against the delay was brought by Jennifer McNern, who lost both legs in a Troubles bombing in 1972, and Brian Turley, one of the “Hooded Men” who were arrested and interrogated by the British Army in 1971.

The scheme was due to open for applications at the end of May but little progress has been made due to a failure by the Executive Office (TEO) which is shared by Ms O’Neill and First Minister Arlene Foster, to nominate a Stormont department to take responsibility for it.

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said: “The comments made by Martina Anderson this evening are unacceptable, disgusting and grossly insulting to hundreds of victims who sustained life-changing physical and psychological injuries related to Troubles incidents.”

DUP Foyle Assembly member Gary Middleton said the comments were deeply offensive.

“People who have lived most of their lives with shrapnel from an explosion in their body or who are haunted with the smell, taste and noise of a bombing should not be labelled by Martina Anderson.”