'Labour has sold out the ideals of 1916 and the principles of James Connolly'

MARY LOU McDonald has hit out at the Labour Party accusing Tánaiste Joan Burton and her colleagues of betraying the men and women of 1916 and the ideals of their party's founder James Connolly.

Speaking at a commemoration for the leaders of 1916 at Arbour Hill in Dublin, the Sinn Féin Deputy Leader said:

"James Connolly lived his life fighting against injustice and inequality. He died to establish a republic in which the people were sovereign and citizens would be ensured fundamental rights. He rejected the elites and the great and good. He stood with the workers against the bosses.

"He put himself on the front-lines of a struggle to build a new republic.

"It is clear that the Labour party of Connolly and 1916 is not the Labour party of Joan Burton and 2015."

McDonald pointed to the Labour Party's implementation of unfair taxes on already stretched families and their failure to protect the rights of workers as glaring examples of how the party has deserted its ideals.

"Rather than acknowledge that the Labour Party has sold out the ideals of 1916 and the principles James Connolly, Joan Burton resorts to pathetic and deflective attacks on Sinn Féin and Irish republicans," she said.

"She is fooling nobody."

The Dublin Central TD also hit back at Joan Burton's comments to the Irish Daily Star in which she compared the Sinn Féin leadership to the North Korean regime:

"The Labour Party would know a great deal more about North Korea than Sinn Féin. Eamon Gilmore and Pat Rabbitte were prominent members of the Workers’ Party at a time when that organisation fostered extremely close links with the regime in question.

"She should ask her former Ministerial colleagues about the time they spent cosying up to that dictatorship instead of embarrassing herself by making grossly inaccurate statements about Gerry Adams and Sinn Féin."

Mary Lou ended her speech by stating that the ownership of republicanism and the Rising belongs to the people of Ireland and should not be gifted to a small elite who have driven the country to its knees.

"Easter is a time for renewal and reflection. A time to recommit ourselves to the cause of all our patriot dead. We will all be judged not by our rhetoric but by the actions we take in power to deliver the republic of Connolly and Pearse."