DERRY’S James McClean is one of 200 nationalists in the North of Ireland who have signed a letter which has been sent to Taoiseach Varadkar urging him to protect the rights of citizens here.
The Creggan winger added his name to that of other signatories who are from sectors including the arts, sport and academia.
They include boxer Michael Conlan, former victims’ commissioner Patricia McBride and Hillsborough campaigner Professor Phil Scraton.
The letter expressed “growing concern at the ongoing political crises”.
It appealed to Mr Varadkar to “protect the rights of all citizens in the north of Ireland”.
The letter said that the current political crisis had come about because of a failure to “both implement and defend the Good Friday and St Andrew’s agreements”.
“The result has been a denial and refusal of equality, rights and respect towards the section of the community to which we belong, as well as everyone living here,” it said.
Niall Murphy, a Belfast-based solicitor who was involved in drawing up the letter, said that the Irish government must “robustly represent and protect the interest of a broad nationalist voice here in the north”.
“There is an onus, I believe, on the taoiseach to hold the British government to account for the denial of rights and to secure the implementation of previous agreements,” he said.
The DUP and Sinn Féin have failed to reach an agreement in spite of numerous rounds of discussions since March’s assembly elections.
Among the stumbling blocks are Sinn Féin’s demand for legislation to give official status to the Irish language and the DUP’s opposition to same-sex marriage.
Mr Murphy said that the issues are “much wider than any single political party”.
“They are rights that can be enjoyed by all citizens on this island.”
He added: “Rights enjoyed in Donegal should be enjoyed just as equally in Derry, rights enjoyed in Edinburgh and Cardiff should be enjoyed in Belfast – I’m speaking here in relation to marriage equality and language equality.”
“One would hope that this initiative is to supplement and assist more appropriate politics,” he said.
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