SINN FÉIN will resist any cuts in funds to the Northern Ireland by the new British government in its forthcoming budget, the Executive’s Minister for Agriculture Michele Gildernew has said.
Delivering the annual speech at Sinn Féin’s annual Wolfe Tone commemoration in Bodenstown, Co Kildare, yesterday, Ms Gildernew said the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats would attempt to cut public services and social supports.
“Be assured that Sinn Féin will resist those efforts and work to our utmost to defend services and livelihoods, especially for the most vulnerable,” she said. Ms Gildernew, the MP for Fermanagh-South Tyrone, also said the recession created an opportunity of a new political landscape in which Sinn Féin can play a central part.
“This State is urgently in need of a radical republican political agenda. For the first time it may be that a majority of people in this State are considering voting other than Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in the next general election,” she said.
During the speech, Ms Gildernew also welcomed the conclusions reached by the Saville inquiry. She also called on European governments to end diplomatic relationships with Israel and to end special trade agreements.
“End the blockade of Gaza. Free the people of Palestine,” she said.