People Before Profit Foyle MLA Eamonn McCann
DERRY politican Eamonn McCann has clashed with Sinn Fein at Stormont over the effects of Brexit on the city.
It came after Sinn Fein Finance Minister Máirtín Ó’Muilleoir warned Creggan will be one of the communities hardest hit by Brexit during at debate at Stormont yesterday..
Mr McCann, the People Before Profit Foyle MLA, said the impact of the planned withdrawal of EU funding was a “red herring”.
Said the trade unionist: “Does he not agree that the factors over the next few years that will most affect and most impact on the well-being, economic security and hopes for the future of the mass of our people have to do with downward pressure on wages, loss of jobs in the private and public sectors, cuts to benefits and the imminent catastrophe — I mean ‘imminent’ and I mean ‘catastrophe’ — in home-care services?” asked Mr McCann.
Mr Ó’Muilleor said he believed Mr McCann was minimising the danger of Brexit and said EU funding had benefited areas like the Bogside and that an end to it would badly affect areas like Creggan.
“Feeding that in, we absolutely need to be vigilant about this funding, and not just because it amounts to hundreds of millions of euros going to great projects such as the Free Derry museum, the Skainos Centre in east Belfast, WAVE, Relatives for Justice and other bodies,” he said.
“The impact of Brexit, which I will work hard to prevent, would be felt harder in the Creggan than in Bangor, with all my best wishes to Bangor.
“It would be felt harder in Sandy Row than in parts of my constituency along the Malone Road.
“When we appear sanguine about the possible Brexit, we do a disservice not only to our ethnic minorities or those trying to build businesses but to those who are building the peace – the peacemakers and bridge-builders in our working-class communities,” he added.
A legal challenge to Brexit is currently going through the High Court backed by the SDLP, Sinn Fein and the Alliance Party.
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