Sinn Fein veteran Francie Molloy, once a director of elections for Bobby Sands, has been elected to retain the Westminster seat of Mid-Ulster in succession to Martin McGuinness.
Molloy, 62, beat a coalition Unionist candidate Nigel Lutton. Molloy was once accused under parliamentary privilege of being part of an IRA unit that killed Lutton’s policeman reservist father in 1979, a claim he has consistently denied.
Molloy, outgoing principal deputy speaker at the Northern Ireland Assembly, will not sit in Westminster, in line with Sinn Fein policy of abstaining from the House of Commons. But he insisted he will still represent everybody in the constituency in the wake of his by-election victory.
McGuinness, who is deputy first minister in the Northern Ireland Assembly, vacated his Westminster seat in line with his party’s policy of no double-jobbing among its abstentionist MPs and assembly members.
He held Mid-Ulster for15 years, and it was reckoned to be a “safe” Sinn Fein stronghold, although the party’s vote was down almost 10,000 votes in the by-election. That was attributed mainly to the loss of a personal vote for McGuinness and complacency within the party.
Molloy, at 17,462 votes, was still 4,601 votes more than Lutton’s 12,781.
At the count in Cookstown, Co. Tyrone, McGuinness blamed the media for insisting it was a safe Sinn Fein seat. He said complacency had set in as a result of that. Still, he maintained, it was a great result for Molloy and for Sinn Fein.
As widely predicted, there was no handshake between Molloy and Lutton after the count, but the Unionist candidate said the two exchanged hellos.
Within days of the count, McGuinness and Northern Ireland’s First Minister Peter Robinson flew to Brazil on a five-day promotion trip. They said they are hoping to promote economic development, trade, tourism, university and sporting links between Brazil and Northern Ireland.
The visit is part of the Northern Ireland Executive’s wider international objectives aimed at establishing relations with the world’s most quickly developing economies.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.IrelandNorth | Mar 18, 2013, 06:27 AM EDT
seamus60! Seamus Mallin's quote that the Anglo-Irish Agreement, 1985 was "Sunningdale for slow learners" was directed more at Ulster unionists/loyalists. If you are on the ground in Derry and say that that is how it is, I must accept that unpalatable reality. All I'm saying is that the perspective of the north looks far rosier up here in Dublin than it did heretofore. Perhaps I'm wrong?
seamus60 | Mar 17, 2013, 05:35 PM EDT
IrelandNorth. The struggle won a seat at the negotiating table. 3,500 deaths to achieve something on offer 2000 lives earlier is hardly a good result. The gun and the ballot box not ring a bell when equating to carnivores and vegetarians. Where we are at is no closer to a UI than we were in 73 when the free state still had a territorial claim on the 32. We still have internment, we still have gerrymandering, we still have religious discrimination in the work place. Worse again we have so called republican politicians now attacking agencies set up to deal with such issues.
anglo-norman | Mar 17, 2013, 03:42 PM EDT
Sinn Fein are a joke in essence.
IrelandNorth | Mar 17, 2013, 05:57 AM EDT
Belated congratdulations to the Rt Hon Francie Molloy MP/TD. A Francis in south Tyrone and another in Rome. A good day all round for the Franciscans of all shades and hues.
Scouse Tony | Mar 17, 2013, 04:26 AM EDT
leahkinsella Martin didn't really have a chance at President, he could not shake off the Ghost of Patsy Gillepie amongst others.
curtisjohnson | Mar 17, 2013, 02:35 AM EDT
"I saw Sinn Fein out supporting the ant-traveller racism farce the other day" As opposed to the pro-traveller racism farce?
leahkinsella | Mar 17, 2013, 12:16 AM EDT
O Sean, you're gas. Happy St. Pat's.
seanomelb | Mar 16, 2013, 08:35 PM EDT
Typical plastic Irish arrogance from Leah. I care not whether my opinions are of interest to you or not. Feeling a bit miffed Leah. As a lawyer you are a very shallow thinker.
leahkinsella | Mar 16, 2013, 03:44 PM EDT
Seano: tell that to the Courts, I never lost a case yet as a Criminal Lawyer. I will get an answer from G. Adams and Co. about my brother and others who have been murdered by the IRA one day. The Shinners will never rule Ireland while people like myself are around and there are thousands of us. McGuinness never became President for the same reason. Since you don't live in Ireland your opinions are of no interest to me.
IrelandNorth | Mar 16, 2013, 03:22 PM EDT
seamus60! The armed struggle won a seat at the negotiating table. Would that it took less effort. British policy re Ireland over the centuries swung between hard-boiled imperialism to well intentioned Home Rulery, largely depending on whether the carnivores or the vegetarians were in the ascendant of the Conservative and Tory Party. Irish republican paramilitarism and/or Irish nationalist agitation were inevitable reactions thereto. Guess at what stage the current situation is at?
anglo-norman | Mar 16, 2013, 02:17 PM EDT
I saw Sinn Fein out supporting the ant-traveller racism farce the other day
DanOLoingsigh | Mar 15, 2013, 09:31 PM EDT
SF MPs don't get the salary cheque...
seamus60 | Mar 15, 2013, 09:01 PM EDT
IrelandNorth. Just a pity they did`nt take the silver to copper fasten the union decades ago. Would have saved a lot of lives and suffering across the board.
seanomelb | Mar 15, 2013, 08:41 PM EDT
I'm not intersested in your analyses of Sinn Fein's electoral standing in Ireland as they have a healthy poll readings and have to fight against a right wing anti nationalist press.You claim you are an Irish lawyer!! one has to take that with a grain of salt as your posts are peurile and lack any thought whatsoever
seamus60 | Mar 15, 2013, 08:30 PM EDT
IrelandNorth. Just a pity they didn
curtisjohnson | Mar 15, 2013, 08:26 PM EDT
IrelandNorth, perfectly put.
seamus60 | Mar 15, 2013, 08:25 PM EDT
Rebelforce. Would that be the mandate Mc Guinness said the IRA didn`t need as the Brit presence in Ireland was all that was required. When did the Brits leave ?
DanOLoingsigh | Mar 15, 2013, 04:40 PM EDT
SF UK MPs don't receive an MPs salary....they get expenses....and of course 'donations' from a range of sources help to fund certain activities, including both medical and 'welfare' needs of the faithful....
Rebelforce | Mar 15, 2013, 04:07 PM EDT
The political mandate of Sinn Fein. Could it get any clearer?
IrelandNorth | Mar 15, 2013, 03:21 PM EDT
SF electoral policy in the 6 is perfectly logical from a republican perspective. They contest elections to a parliament whose political legitimacy they don't recognise in any part of Ireland, and decline to take their seats in a show of defiance. Salaries and expenses are contributed to party funds from which average industrial wages are paid to them, which even over time is a fraction of the wealth siphoned out of Ireland over 800 yrs of imperial rape, pillage and plunder. leah! Please read an objective book on Irish history. Your adolescent precociousness is embarrasing. You remind me of the late ciaradexy - RIP! seamus60! Better to take 32 pieces of silver than 6 or 26.
leahkinsella | Mar 15, 2013, 01:24 PM EDT
Eh Seano your getting worse. The present anti-SinnFeinn/Ira atmosphere in the Irish Republic obviously dosen't agree with you. You always resort to name calling when people don't agree with you, very childish.Pillbox or whatever your name is, how did I confuse between Mick and Dev? Explain!
seamus60 | Mar 15, 2013, 07:38 AM EDT
Pilib04. IC didn`t run the story when it was fresh because the election was a severe kick in the goolies for SF, regardless of them trying to make it look "just ok". Hopefully a sign of times to come, even though they have gone way beyond the pale as far as most Republicans are concerned redemption would only ever come by the removal of the corrupt leadership and getting back to working for the people that put them where they are (were).
seamus60 | Mar 15, 2013, 07:30 AM EDT
Anyone care to tell us what Robinson and Mc Guinness have actually brought home with them from all this globe trotting ?. Apart from their self praising statements on return.Its one of those questions both avoid answering as if its a plague.
seamus60 | Mar 15, 2013, 07:18 AM EDT
Irishfree1916. Francie has taken the 30 pieces and as a result denied himself the will to point out the injustices that STILL plague this Island. Gone are the days when SF use election victory platforms to highlight such issues as INTERNMENT etc. Still installed on those Irish defenders you speak of with little other than their non SF conformist attitude. Surely if something was wrong before SF took the 30 pieces of silver its still wrong. After all very little has changed from then till now other than poacher turning gamekeeper.
seamus60 | Mar 15, 2013, 07:03 AM EDT
Complacency within the party ????? Mc Guinness called it voter apathy brought on by the medias pre-election conclusion. That conclusion has always been the same with the mid Ulster seat always being the safest for SF, other wise Mc Guinness would have had the goolies to stand for election in his native Derry. How many more votes were saved for Francie with the party not declaring its hand on the abortion issue until after the election ?. The truth is their vote is well down because of how the party has behaved on issues like the Social Welfare reform bill that is now beginning to bite in places like Mid Ulster. behaving
Seanmor | Mar 15, 2013, 12:28 AM EDT
Since G.F.A. has allowed elected Sinn Féin members to sit in Stormount without swearing an oath of allegiance to the queen of England (or any other foreign monarch), a similar arrangement should be worked out for Westminister, so that the 5 Sinn Féin M.P.s could take their seats in the Mother of Parliamemts. (Does Molloy's election victory mean that the uinfluence of the 1981 hunger strikers is slill being felt in Mid-Ulster?).
curtisjohnson | Mar 14, 2013, 09:40 PM EDT
@leahkinsella "Not sitting in Westminster representing his people but I bet he will take the salary and expenses like McGuinness and Adams before him. Typical Sinn Fein, so why did he run for the seat?" To advance the visibility of his cause, moron. The impact of an Irish nationalist candidate in the terror state parliament farce is nil.
pilib04 | Mar 14, 2013, 07:13 PM EDT
Wounded, Owen Carron was Bobby Sands "Election Agent." Francie Molloy was Bobby's "Director of Elections." The Election Agent is a legally defined position in Northern Ireland and United Kingdom elections. The EA is responsible for legally representing the candidate in all legal areas, such as legal issues over campaign materials and campaign expenses. I Have no idea what a Director of Elections does. Could be some type of campaign manager.
pilib04 | Mar 14, 2013, 06:30 PM EDT
Yeah seanomelb, the same Leah who was confused about Dev and Mick. Don't pay any attention to her rantings.
pilib04 | Mar 14, 2013, 06:24 PM EDT
Old news is good news. Seems that the Irish Central is a week behind!!!
seanomelb | Mar 14, 2013, 06:11 PM EDT
LeahKinsella's childish question is typical of her anti nationalist stance. She has the personality of a hamster.
WoundedKnee | Mar 14, 2013, 03:49 PM EDT
Wasn't Owen Carron Bobby Sands' director of elections? As a teenager I was in Ireland during the sad summer of 1981, and that's what I recall. As regards the hate mail from Leah K (didn't you post here under another name?) I would remind her that the people of Tyrone pay their taxes to the British state. Any MP is perfectly within his rights in deciding not to attend Westminster--his masters are the people of Tyrone, not some sad old drudge in Dublin. And I say all this as someone who does not support Sinn Fein, largely because of their blind support of the Irish bosses' crazy Mad Mass Immigration project.
irishfree1916 | Mar 14, 2013, 03:02 PM EDT
Francie has had our back from the start, what a great man to take Martin seat! UP MOLLOY and all the true defenders of the Freedom of our Island! A voice from California Jerry O'
leahkinsella | Mar 14, 2013, 02:58 PM EDT
Not sitting in Westminster representing his people but I bet he will take the salary and expenses like McGuinness and Adams before him. Typical Sinn Fein, so why did he run for the seat?
IrelandNorth | Mar 14, 2013, 02:51 PM EDT
If there had been a nationalist/rpublican unit vote like there was a unionist/loyalist one, the gap between them would have even been greater. Although the agreed unionist/loyalist candidate for this largely nationalist/republican constituency was a likeable shy ans self effeacing personality, one wonders if Ulster unionism was trying to bury the peace process whatever about resurrecting unionism, given their candidates' occupation of funeral director/embalmer. Although such work is unlikely to make one the life and soul of any party, one does empathise at his personal tragedy due to the Troubles with partition.