Sinn Fein 'doubling down' on rewriting history and celebrating terrorism: Buchanan

Mr Buchanan said, "In no other part of the United Kingdom would an MP honour a man found guilty of burning a woman to death in front of her 9 year old child. Challenging this narrative is not about looking back but about ensuring future generations do not make the mistakes of the past.

When Michelle O'Neill claimed there was no alternative to IRA violence she was telling us that Thomas McElwee had no alternative to firebombing shops and burning a young woman alive.

Francie Molloy's eulogising of McElwee stems directly from that warped revisionism. It is that same justification of IRA terrorism which sees young people feel free to engage in the kind of sectarianism witnessed in the video from Dromore just over a week ago.

The latest glorification of terror is simply Sinn Fein 'doubling down' on its attempt to normalise terrorism. By repeating it, they simply hope that criticism will eventually fade away. Whether it is someone positioning themselves as a 'First Minister for all' or a Member of Parliament such attempts to normalise terrorism and to airbrush out its victims can never be successful and will always be challenged. Sinn Fein's position is not about the right of anyone's family to remember a loved one, but about the calculated glorification of their actions.

It is disappointing of course that Sinn Fein representatives are rarely challenged on the details of exactly what they are supporting and glorifying. All too often they are allowed to descend into vague generalities about 'the conflict'.

Michelle O'Neill should be challenged specifically if she believes Thomas McElwee had no alternative than to firebomb a clothes shop with a young mother inside."