Sinn Fein Killer is Mayor

East Londonderry MP Gregory Campbell claims Sinn Féin has caused "anger and outrage" by appointing people convicted of terrorist-related activities in prominent local government posts.




Mr Campbell spoke following the appointment of former IRA prisoner Sean McGlinchey to Mayor of Limavady Borough Council.



Mr McGlinchey, from Dungiven, served 18 years for murder of six people in a car bomb in Coleraine in 1973.



His brother, former INLA member Dominic McGlinchey was murdered in Drogheda in 1994.


At Magherafelt District Council, Sinn Féin's Ian Milne has been appointed Chairman for a second time.



Milne, from Bellaghy, escaped from Portlaoise Prison along with 18 other inmates in 1974, and three years later formed part of the Blanket Protest in Long Kesh.



Mr Campbell called the appointments "reprehensible".



They follow the controversial appointment of Culture, Arts and Leisure Minister Carál Ní Chuilín's adviser Mary McArdle, who was convicted for her part in the murder of Mary Travers in 1984.



Mr Campbell said little can be done to prevent those chosen by the party.



"Even if we could it would be difficult to make a choice between a murderer and a bomber.



"It is nonetheless an indication of Sinn Féin's thinking at this stage of the political process."



He claimed the party still has "some considerable way to go in understanding the anger and outrage they have caused in the wider community".



"This current batch of announcements reinforces the need to demonstrate again and again that as Sinn Féin try to mix present democratic participation with past terror we will expose that blatant hypocrisy for what it is."



Last week, Sinn Féin's Gerry Kelly said former prisoners are "entitled to employment rights".



"Almost half our Assembly team are former political prisoners", he said.



"Many more ex-prisoners have played critical and positive roles in bringing the political process to where it is now and will continue to do so."