Sinn Fein’s leader in the North Michelle O’Neill has defended her party reaching out to a dissident republican group to discuss how to achieve a border poll.
Yesterday the Sunday Times reported chairperson Declan Kearney made contact with Saoradh in 2020 in an attempt to reach a “co-operation agreement”.
During a UTV debate ahead of Thursday’s election, O’Neill said Mr Kearney had reached out to insist the group, widely seen as the political wing of the New IRA, work towards unity.
The DUP leader Jeffery Donaldson accused Sinn Fein of seeking to build an alliance with “people who are still involved in murder on our streets”.
Journalist with the Belfast Telegraph Allison Morris outlines why a border poll is such a contentious issue with unionists ahead of this week’s election:
