Sinn Féin deleting 52,000 old media statements ‘kind of Orwellian’, Taoiseach Micheál Martin says

 – Yesterday 13:50

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said that Sinn Féin deleting old media statements is “kind of Orwellian”.

Micheál Martin was speaking after the Sunday Independent reported that thousands of press statements had been deleted from the party’s website.

The party later said that it was updating its website and archiving “outdated content”.

The removed content included press statements from party spokespeople on a variety of issues, including its stance on Russia, for which the party has come under criticism in recent weeks.

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Speaking to reporters in Washington, Mr Martin said that Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald’s comments that the archives are “being changed” are “very interesting”.

“I read a comment from Deputy McDonald yesterday, the leader of Sinn Féin, that the archives are being changed. Kind of Orwellian, I thought to myself,” Mr Martin said.

“I would be concerned about it, I think there is a reason they’re all being taken off the archives.”

He accused Sinn Féin of being “soft” on Russia and that it had a “muted” response when Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014.

“I think that Sinn Féin was soft on Russia for the last number of years.

“Sinn Féin is saying, which is good news now, that they don’t agree with the violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity but it was violated in 2014. I recall in the Dáil making those points at the time and the response was somewhat muted from Sinn Féin to say the least”.

Sinn Féin deleted most of the 52,000 media statements going back nearly two decades from its website because they were “slowing it down”, one of the party’s TDs said earlier.

Claire Kerrane said that the tens of thousands of statements were “obviously slowing it down, as would be the case with any website” and that the decision had been taken to “archive” this material.

Ms Kerrane said she did not know whether the party would make these historic statements available on another website but said it could be done.

The purging of thousands of statements in recent weeks comes amid controversy over Sinn Féin’s previous positions on Russia and its calls for the abolition of Nato.

“There was tens of thousands of statements going back 20 years, they are being archived, which is fairly normal practice – 52,000 I think it was, which was slowing down the website in the first instance and second, we are revamping the website,” Ms Kerrane said.

“All of the statements, everything we’ve ever said has gone to journalists as normal, they’re out there, they’re not going to disappear and I see no issue in relation to what we’re doing with revamping the website, which is a huge body of work and is underway now.”

The Roscommon-Galway TD said there will be statements “left up probably up until 2018” but she said she didn’t think that statements before this period would be available on the Sinn Féin website although she said it was possible they could be made available elsewhere.

“We’re revamping our website, statements that are released have been released, they’re on public record. Everything we say is on public record, be it in the Dáil, in the Seanad, in the Assembly,” she said.

Asked why historic IRA statements are being left up on the party’s website in a separate section, Ms Kerrane said she did not know why this is the case.

Ms Kerrane also defended Sinn Féin’s previous opposition to the expulsion of a Russian diplomat in 2018 over the Salisbury poisonings. The party has since called for the Russian ambassador to Ireland to be expelled in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine.

“I wouldn’t say we regret, I mean we had our position at the time it was well known, it was put out there, we’re now in a very, very, very different situation in relation to the conflict that’s there in Ukraine, who are being absolutely bombed and killed every single day,” she said.

“So we have a very firm position in relation to what Russia are doing and this will only be solved by discussions and by getting around the table, that is the only way conflict will be solved and we have been very clear and very straight in relation to that position which we hold.”

She said Sinn Féin “absolutely have not” flip-flopped its position on Russia, saying the position had now changed as “we are now in the throes of a war”.

Ms Kerrane was speaking at Leinster House where she called for the Government to do more to alleviate the cost of living, including widening eligibility for the fuel allowance and a new discretionary fund of €15m to assist households who are “locked out” of accessing the payment. A cost-of-living payment of between €100 and €200 and a 50 cent increase in the minimum wage also form part of Sinn Féin’s €1.4bn mini-budget proposal.

“If something was announced in relation to home heating then I would say stop but we’ve had nothing in relation to home heating, the vast majority of my constituents rely on home heating oil, which has doubled,” Ms Kerrane, Sinn Féin’s social protection, spokesperson said.