Lifelong republican Francie Brolly, who was Sinn Féin MLA for East Derry from 2003 to 2010, and father of former GAA All-Ireland winner and RTE commentator, Joe Brolly, has resigned from the party in protest at its complete embrace of abortion politics. “I can’t accept that my conscience can be subjected to public policy,” he said. “My conscience is mine. It’s basically the only important thing I own in the world, and I just can’t accept that Mary Lou McDonald can tell me ‘no, I’m very sorry, we have a policy on this and your conscience is irrelevant’.”
Sinn Féin changed its policy on abortion at its ardfheis in November 2017, voting to support abortion on almost unlimited ‘health’ grounds, and even denying its representatives a conscience vote. Mr Brolly is opposed to abortion under any circumstance.
He said Sinn Féin’s new position demonstrated a sharp disconnect between urban and rural voters. “We’re aware here in the North and all over Ireland that there are basically almost two states down there now, there’s Dublin and the rest, or possibly the cities and the rest. Certainly Dublin will decide which way the repeal vote goes, but I have no doubt in the more rural counties like Donegal that they would not vote for the Eighth Amendment to be repealed. I have absolutely no doubt, and plenty of proof that people are very uneasy.”