Sinn Féin has been criticised after the Irish tricolour was draped over the coffin of an IRA bomber at her funeral, after condemning the use of the flag at the funeral of Garda killer Pearse McCauley.
Sinn Féin members, including Dublin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh, joined former party president Gerry Adams and ex-MLA Martina Anderson at Wednesday’s funeral of Rose Dugdale, the English aristocrat-turned IRA member who died earlier this month at the age of 83.
The service in Dublin saw the wicker coffin of Ms Dugdale draped in a tricolour.
During her time with the IRA Ms Dugdale, whose life is the focus of recently released movie Baltimore, developed a powerful explosive that was used in bombings in the north and in England.
The attendance of Sinn Féin members at her funeral came as Stormont First Minister Michelle O’Neill condemned the tricolour being used at the funeral last Thursday of former IRA member Pearse McCauley, who died earlier this month at the age of 59.
“Sinn Féin had no part in that and don’t believe that a tricolour should have been placed on his coffin,” she said.
Sinn Féin Donegal TD Pearse Doherty also spoke out and said of his party: “In relation to the placement of a tricolour, if it was our decision, one would not be on the coffin.”
McCauley had been jailed for the manslaughter of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe during a robbery in Co Limerick in 1996.
In 2015 he was sentenced to 12 years for stabbing his estranged wife Pauline Tully - now a Sinn Féin TD - in a Christmas Eve attack in 2014.
The use of the tricolour at his funeral had also been criticised by new Fine Gael leader Simon Harris during a speech last week.
- Rose Dugdale never regretted swapping privileged life for the IRA, funeral toldOpens in new window
- Pearse McAuley: IRA Garda killer who knifed his wife in front of their children and spent his last years in near isolationOpens in new window
- Funeral takes place for Garda killer Pearse McCauleyOpens in new window
In a post to the X platform, former justice minister of the Republic, Alan Shatter, hit out at Sinn Féin’s stance.
“The tricolour adorning Rose Dugdale’s coffin Wed was no less offensive than it adorning Pearse McCauley’s coffin,” the ex-Fine Gael Dublin TD wrote.
The tricolour adorning Rose Dugdale’s coffin Wed was no less offensive than it adorning Pearse McAuley’s coffin. Whilst SF is trying to distance itself from the murderous McAuley, yesterday it embraced & eulogised Dugdale’s terrorist atrocities. Her atrocities exceeded McAuleys
— Alan Shatter (@Alan__Shatter) March 28, 2024
“Whilst SF is trying to distance itself from the murderous McAuley, yesterday it embraced & eulogised Dugdale’s terrorist atrocities. Her atrocities exceeded McAuleys.”
Sinn Féin has been approached for comment.
