Speaking today, the Sinn Féin National Chairperson, Declan Kearney MLA has said that “Michelle O Neill’s decision to accept the invitation from Belfast City Council to attend the Remembrance Sunday ceremony this Sunday is an expression of her determination to serve everyone equally as First Minister for All.”

Mr Kearney said:

“Sinn Féin leaders have consistently sought to heal divisions through efforts to build trust and foster reconciliation. That has often meant stepping beyond traditional comfort zones. 

“Serving as a First Minister for all means honouring the spirit and requirements of the office.

“The participation at the Remembrance Sunday ceremony, of a First Minister for all who is also an Irish Republican represents a gesture of respect for those dead from Ireland, and their loved ones, who served in British forces, during wars fought by Britain, notwithstanding our republican and anti-imperialist opposition to those colonial wars and global conflicts both historically, and more recent times.

“In attending she is also acknowledging the pain and suffering of all those who lost their lives – on all sides – in the horror of the First World War and in subsequent conflicts. 

“War can never be romanticised or glorified. All wars are terrible. The ongoing genocide in Gaza graphically underlines that reality. International humanitarian law, diplomacy and multilateralism must be paramount. 

“Serving as a First Minister means being a First Minister for unionists, but also for republicans, and for those from neither background. 

“The dead from all traditions should be afforded the right of respectful commemoration, and that includes republican patriot dead.

“Political leaders must show example. All our actions today must be about laying foundations for the transition to a new constitutional settlement in Ireland based upon respect, inclusion, pluralism, and equality.”