Martin McGuinness: ‘Reconciliation is next vital stage of the peace process’
Speaking of his decision to step away from elected office he quite firmly said his decision did not also mean his political career was over.
“I hopefully will overcome this illness through time. I am very determined to be an ambassador for peace, unity, and reconciliation.
“Reconciliation, I have always believed, is the next vital stage of the peace process,” he said.
“My record of reaching out, whether it be to Queen Elizabeth — and her record of reaching out to me on several occasions — my visits to the Somme, to Flanders field, have not been reciprocated by the DUP and that is a particular disappointment to me.”
Mr McGuinness resigned as Northern Ireland’s deputy first minister last week in protest against the handling of a botched energy scheme, forcing a snap election.
He has now revealed that after “a lot of thinking” he will not be contesting those elections due to ill health.
“The question I asked myself was ‘are you physically capable of fighting an intensive five/six-week election and doing it to my full abilities?’ I rapidly came to the conclusion that I am not in any physical state to fight such a campaign.
“So I have taken the decision that I will not be a candidate in the upcoming election.”
Mr McGuinness said he had intended to stand aside in May, on the 10th anniversary of going into government with the DUP’s Ian Paisley.
However, he said that the DUP’s handling of the Renewable Heating Initiative (RHI) scandal left him with “no other alternative” but to resign earlier this month.
DUP leader Arlene Foster’s refusal to step aside pending an interim report into the scheme was her “biggest mistake”, Mr McGuinness said.
“God knows where it is all going to end. But quite clearly at the heart of it is a very clear perception of not just incompetence, but allegations of corruption are flying all over the place. That was an intolerable situation for me to find myself in.
“As someone who has worked night and day over the course of 10 years to keep the institutions intact, and of course many conversations with both the British and Irish Government about the DUP, it was particularly disappointing having kept up the institutions for almost 10 years that I found myself with no other alternative but to resign. And of course, that has led to an election.”
The former deputy first minister told the Press Association he has been battling ill health for several months, but he hopes to make a recovery.
“On medical advice last year I was advised not to travel to China and, in the aftermath of that, I underwent a whole series of tests. As a result of those tests, I have been diagnosed with a very serious illness which has taken a toll on me.
But I am being cared for by wonderful doctors and nurses within our national health service and I am very determined to overcome this condition but it is going to take time.”
Meanwhile, it still remained a personal and political ambition for him to help break the link with Britain and “to unite all who share this island under the common banner of Irish men and women”.
“I am deeply proud of the generation of Irish republicans that came before us. A generation that kept the vision of freedom alive through the difficult post-partition era when they faced unrelenting repression and persecution from the Ulster Unionist Party in an apartheid Orange state.
“I have been privileged to be part of the generation that broke that apartheid state apart and to have been part of a Sinn Féin leadership that delivered peace and radical change. There are more republicans today than at any time in my generation.
I look across the party north and south and see energy, determination, talent and potential new leaders emerging who, I am confident, will deliver equality, respect, and Irish unity.”
Top negotiator leads SF pack
The MLA for Newry and Armagh Conor Murphy is emerging as a favourite to lead Sinn Féin into the Assembly elections. He is also likely to be the party’s frontrunner as deputy first minister in any future coalition.
Three candidates are strongly in the mix, so far, in the event of power-sharing being restored in the new Assembly and Sinn Féin having a deputy first minister.
The top candidates are:
Conor Murphy
The married father of two is a key member of the Sinn Féin negotiating team with particular responsibility for institutional issues and has represented the party at the Hillsborough, Leeds Castle and St Andrew’s talks as well as playing a key role in the Fresh Start agreement negotiated at Stormont House.
In 2005, the Armagh man was the first from his party to be elected MP for Newry and Armagh. He retained the seat in 2010 but returned to the Assembly in 2015.
Since then he has been a member of the enterprise, trade and investment committee and the public accounts committee. Mr Murphy chaired the economy committee which had been investigating the Renewable Heat Incentive scandal.
Michelle O’Neill
The Stormont health minister has been involved in republican politics from her teens, has held various senior positions within Sinn Féin and has a background in social welfare issues.
The former agriculture minister from Mid-Ulster has been a prominent face articulating the party’s position in recent weeks since Martin McGuinness became ill.
She has worked in the Assembly since 1998, initially as political adviser to Francie Molloy before being elected to the devolved legislature in 2007 following the restoration of power-sharing.
Mairtin O Muilleoir
The relative newcomer to the Assembly is a media publisher who represents south Belfast.
He is a former Lord Mayor who was an advocate for greater inclusiveness in Northern Ireland’s main city. The marathon runner and graduate of Queen’s University Belfast has been finance minister during the current Assembly.
He has heavily criticised the DUP over its handling of the Renewable Heat Incentive which threatens to land taxpayers with a £490m bill.
