Diane Dodds – 2022 Comments on IRA Murders and Democracy in Northern Ireland

The comments made by Diane Dodds, the DUP MLA for Upper Bann, on 5 November 2022.

In Christmas 1996 the IRA came into the Royal Victoria Children’s hospital to murder my husband and I as we sat by our son’s bedside. It’s high time Michelle O’Neill and Mary Lou McDonald accepted there was an alternative to unleashing gunmen in a children’s hospital and condemned the murderous and reckless act.

The DUP made clear there was no basis for government last February when we were the largest party. Unlike Sinn Fein we have always respected the ballot box and the rule of law.

The DUP accepts the last election result but rejects the NI Protocol that Sinn Fein wants rigorously implemented. False claims about the last election come straight from the Sinn Fein textbook of lying about political opponents.

Stormont can only function with unionists and nationalists so until the Protocol is sorted there is no solid basis for moving forward.