Attorney General Michael McDowell has urged voters to reject Sinn Féin at the coming general election. Mr McDowell said that no person who owes a loyalty to any armed or military force other than those maintained by the Oireachtas has the moral or constitutional right to seek election to Dáil Éireann.
He claimed that a vote for such a candidate is a clear breach of the fundamental duty of citizens to give loyalty to the Republic. Mr McDowell was speaking at a Progressive Democrats rally launching his campaign for a seat in the Dáil in Dublin South East, where a recent opinion poll suggested he would be out-polled by the Sinn Féin candidate.
The Attorney General said that the greatest threat to the Belfast Agreement was from those who, he said, had disgraced and betrayed the term Republicanism, saying "keep your balaclavas; give us back our flag".
And he called on younger voters to "stand by the Republic", adding that the ballot box was not a legitimate haven for those who withhold their exclusive loyalty to the Irish State, its Defence Forces, Police and Courts established under the Constitution.
