McGuinness back after election bid
Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness has returned to his post as Northern Ireland’s Deputy First Minister, after fighting a bruising six-week presidential campaign in the Republic of Ireland.
The veteran politician finished third in the race – which finally saw Michael D Higgins win out as successor to Mary McAleese – but rejects the notion that his political ventures south of the border failed.
“I fully expected when I took the decision to stand that there would be elements within the media in Dublin, and maybe also at least one other political party, who would attempt to derail the campaign,” Mr McGuinness told UTV’s Political Editor Ken Reid.
“But I don’t think that it worked.”
Mr McGuinness came under fire during the course of the presidential campaign over allegations about his role in the IRA, but insists he was received warmly by many people.
“What it did show up is that some of my critics in the election are about ten years behind the rest of us, in terms of the advancements that we have seen,” he said.
Mr McGuinness had stepped aside as Deputy First Minister to run for election, temporarily handing over the reins to his party colleague John O’Dowd.
But he returned to Stormont last week, attended his first Executive meeting in over two months on Thursday and has been involved in a number of meetings with DUP First Minister Peter Robinson since his return.
And Mr McGuinness says it’s back to business as usual.
“I think we’re making tremendous progress, so I’m very confident that we are going to see very shortly a programme for government,” he said.
“I’m also very confident that a number of issues that evaded us previously, in the last administration, can be dealt with.”
He added that the bid to develop such a programme is “a work-in-progress”, but that the fruits of that labour will soon be seen.
In the meantime, Mr McGuinness is predicting that support for Sinn Féin will continue to grow in the Republic as a result of his campaign – and says that made it worthwhile.
