Sinn Fein Leader: The Good Friday Agreement Is Being Undermind From Within Unionism

18 February 2018, 18:26 | Updated: 18 February 2018, 18:50

The new Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald has called on the UK government to uphold the Good Friday agreement.

Sinn Fein's new leader Mary Lou McDonald spoke to Alex Salmond about the need to "protect the gains of Good Friday... and ensure that the integrity of it is maintained."

McDonald said that she feared that "there was an undermining of the Good Friday agreement,I think it's coming from within unionism." She also said that she's concerned that "in the context of Brexit, political progress in Ireland is jeopardised."

She said, "I don't fear... that we are in iminent threat of a return to conflict on the streets of Ireland, but over the past year the politics have become very polarised." The new Sinn Fein leader said that Ireland needed a new politics of that "is about reaching out and speaking and dialogue and tolerance."

Talking about the DUP's confidence and supply deal with the Conservatives, McDonald said that the "British government as a sovereign government have an absolute obligation to ensure that the DUP and unionism generally is brought to an understanding of the expectation of the British state."

She called on the British government to insist that "citizens in the north of Ireland should not be disadvantaged, whether it's in terms of marriage equality or language rights." She asked why should the people of Ireland "be put at a disadvantage" compared to the rest of the UK. She said, "that is just not on."