Pat Cullen refuses to condemn IRA's Enniskillen bomb

Pat Cullen is Sinn Féin's candidate in the Fermanagh and South Tyrone constituency

A Sinn Féin candidate in the upcoming general election has refused to condemn IRA attacks.

Pat Cullen stepped down from her role in the Royal College of Nursing in May after announcing her plans to run for Sinn Féin in the General Election.

During a BBC Good Morning Ulster interview, Ms Cullen was challenged by the UUP’s Diana Armstrong to condemn IRA attacks.

The Sinn Féin President, Mary Lou McDonald, accused political opponents of "seizing on hurt of the past" to damage one of her party's candidates in the election.

The Enniskillen bomb killed 12 people in 1987 in the Fermanagh and South Tyrone constituency where both candidates are running.

Ms Armstrong said: "I’m thinking of the nurses who perished in the Enniskillen bomb and the Omagh bomb, and I think we have yet to hear a condemnation of those two extreme attacks within this district, so no, I’m not convinced.

"I’ve asked for clarification from Pat Cullen on her stance as to Sinn Féin and their affiliation with the IRA, and I would like to hear a condemnation of those atrocities," she added.

Ms Cullen replied: "Look I’ve said very clearly those were very dark days. As a community nurse I’ve held the hands of many people who lived through those periods.

"I’ve felt I've heard and I've seen their trauma. I've seen what it does to them. Let's not go back there. Let's move forward and bring prosperity and hope to the people," she said.

The UK general election will take place on 4 July.

With the deadline for nominations to run in the election now closed, BBC News NI had compiled a complete list of all candidates standing in Northern Ireland.

Diana Armstrong is also standing in the Fermanagh and South Tyrone constituency

Refusal to condemn 'horrible'

The daughter of a nurse killed in the Enniskillen bomb has described Ms Cullen failing to condemn the IRA as "horrible".

Aileen Quinton, whose mother died in the Remembrance Day bombing in 1987, described Ms Cullen's reply as adding to her grief.

Speaking to Radio Ulster's Nolan programme, she said it was an "extra pain" and described it as "hard to listen to".

"People kind of dismiss this as the past, but this is in the present that she is failing to condemn the IRA," she said.

"We should be going into the future with an understanding and acceptance amongst people standing to be public representatives that terrorism was not okay," she added.

Ms Quinton said she was not surprised by Ms Cullen's response on Good Morning Ulster's election special.

"They [Sinn Féin] get away with not condemning them. There is no consequences for them not condemning terrorism and that’s just an awful situation to be in in this day and age," she said.

The 1987 bomb in Enniskillen exploded on Remembrance Sunday

The director of the South East Fermanagh Foundation (SEFF) described Ms Cullen as having “nailed her colours to the mast of Provisional Sinn Féin".

In a statement, Kenny Donaldson said: “At the heart of being a nurse, is there not an implicit understanding that you support the preservation of life?

"To support the warped ideological narrative that stealing away lives and destroying others was inevitable, was necessary, was justifiable pre The Belfast Agreement is beyond contempt.”

Victims are “aghast by the position” Ms Cullen is “wedded to”, he added.

'Seizing on hurt of the past'

Ms McDonald was asked for her view at the launch of Sinn Féin's election manifesto.

"I don't believe in the course of an election campaign, that to seize on tragedies, on the hurt of the past to try and derail, to challenge a candidate is the progressive way for us to get to the point of reconciliation," she said.

"This is a very serious matter, the loss people experienced is real.

"As political activists we are keenly aware of that, and we want to be part of the process of healing that and moving forward."