EU poll voters urged to back positive future by Sinn Féin
Voters can use the European election to signal their support for a positive future and reject the negative history of the past, Sinn Féin said today.
The party’s European election candidate in the North, Bairbre de Brún, said the June 4 poll - a day before voters south of the border go to the polls - offered the chance to support the political process, as well as to build stronger links with the European Union (EU).
Ms de Brun launched her party’s manifesto today and said creating jobs, building the economy and supporting farm families would be top of her agenda if she was returned to the European Parliament.
Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams said: “The EU is important to the north’s economy and community. Particularly so in the current economic crisis.
“But this election is about more than the EU. It’s about the peace and political process. It’s about Irish unity.
“This election provides the electorate with an opportunity to tell those opposed to progress that there is no going back to the past.”
With three Unionist candidates fighting the election, a splintering of the vote within unionism could see Sinn Féin top the poll, which would be a first for the party in the North.
Ms de Brun said she was seeking a mandate to put the green economy at the heart of development in a bid to create new job opportunities.
She said she would also encourage EU action to overcome the economic crisis and work to make Irish farming and the rural economy more sustainable and prosperous.
“I want to get back to the European Parliament and to build on the work I have done on jobs and the economy, local communities, for rural communities and farm families, on the environment and climate change, and on public services,” she said.
Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said: “We have come an enormous distance in recent years. Progress built on leadership.
“We now have accommodation and agreement between Sinn Féin and the DUP - imperfect yes – but it represents significant progress.
“We have brought the DUP to a place they said they would never go, into power-sharing and all Ireland structures.”
He said EU links were vital to economic development and breaking down barriers between communities.
