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Martin McGuinness quits politics to recover from serious illness Martin McGuinness quits politics to recover from serious illness
(35 minutes later)
Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness is quitting frontline politics to concentrate on recovering from “a very serious illness”. Martin McGuinness, the outgoing deputy first minister of Northern Ireland, has quit frontline politics to concentrate on recovering from “a very serious illness”.
McGuinness resigned as Northern Ireland’s deputy first minister last week in protest at the handling of a botched energy scheme, forcing a snap election. McGuinness resigned as deputy first minister last week in protest at the handling of a botched energy scheme, forcing a snap election. He has now revealed that after “a lot of thinking” he will not be contesting those elections due to ill health.
He has now revealed that after “a lot of thinking” he will not be contesting those elections due to ill health. McGuinness said: “The question I asked myself was, ‘Are you physically capable of fighting an intensive 5/6 week election and doing it to my full abilities?’ I rapidly came to the conclusion that I am not in any physical state to fight such a campaign. So I have taken the decision that I will not be a candidate in the upcoming election.”
He said: “The question I asked myself was, ‘Are you physically capable of fighting an intensive five- to six-week election and doing it to my full abilities?’ I rapidly came to the conclusion that I am not in any physical state to fight such a campaign. So I have taken the decision that I will not be a candidate in the upcoming election.” During months of crisis at the end of 2016, McGuinness missed a trade mission to China due to illness. It is understood he is gravely ill as a result of a rare condition that attacks the heart, kidneys and other vital organs.
McGuinness said he had intended to stand aside in May, on the 10th anniversary of going into government with the DUP’s Ian Paisley. Reports in Dublin, which were later confirmed to the Guardian by Irish government sources, said McGuinness was suffering from Amyloidosis, which also attacks the central nervous system.
However, he said the DUP’s handling of the Renewable Heating Initiative (RHI) scandal left him with no alternative but to resign earlier. The 66-year-old republican veteran, the former chief of staff of the Provisional IRA, has been central to the peace process and power sharing for almost three decades.
DUP leader Arlene Foster’s refusal to step aside pending an interim report into the scheme was her biggest mistake, McGuinness said. But on the political crisis that has put almost a decade of power sharing between Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionists in peril, McGuinness said: “As someone who has worked night and day over the course of 10 years to keep the institutions intact … it was particularly disappointing, having kept up the institutions for almost 10 years, that I found myself with no other alternative but to resign. And of course that has led to an election.”
“God knows where it is all going to end,” he added. “But quite clearly at the heart of it is a very clear perception of not just incompetence, but allegations of corruption are flying all over the place. That was an intolerable situation for me to find myself in. Hew added: “On medical advice last year I was advised not to travel to China, and in the aftermath of that I underwent a whole series of tests. As a result of those tests, I have been diagnosed with a very serious illness which has taken a toll on me.
“As someone who has worked night and day over the course of 10 years to keep the institutions intact … it was particularly disappointing … that I found myself with no other alternative but to resign. And of course that has led to an election.” “But I am being cared for by wonderful doctors and nurses within our National Health Service and I am very determined to overcome this condition, but it is going to take time.”
The former deputy first minister said he has been battling ill health for several months but hopes to make a full recovery. He said his political career was not fully over and that he would continue to try to reconcile the two traditions of unionism and nationalism on the island of Ireland.
“On medical advice last year I was advised not to travel to China, and in the aftermath of that I underwent a whole series of tests. As a result of those tests I have been diagnosed with a very serious illness which has taken a toll on me,” he said.
“But I am being cared for by wonderful doctors and nurses within our national health service and I am very determined to overcome this condition but it is going to take time.”
Mr McGuinness said a new candidate to lead the party into the elections would be announced next week. He added that although his electoral career was now at an end, his political career was not.
“I hopefully will overcome this illness through time. I am very determined to be an ambassador for peace, unity and reconciliation,” he said. “Reconciliation, I have always believed, is the next vital stage of the peace process.”“I hopefully will overcome this illness through time. I am very determined to be an ambassador for peace, unity and reconciliation,” he said. “Reconciliation, I have always believed, is the next vital stage of the peace process.”
Alongside his close friend and ally within the Provisionals, Gerry Adams, Derry-born McGuinnesss played a central role in pushing the IRA towards a permanent ceasefire and Sinn Féin into a devolved power-sharing government.
Adams, the Sinn Féin president, said of McGuinness’s decision to step back from politics: “I want to express my heartfelt thanks to Martin McGuinness. He and I first met over 45 years ago behind the barricades in Free Derry and we have been friends and comrades since that time.
“I also want to thank Bernie and the entire McGuinness family for the support they have given to Martin over many years and for allowing him to become the leader, the patriot, the peacemaker and poet that he is.
“We were all shocked when we saw his appearance recently. Thank God he is looking a lot better since then and responding well to the treatment he is receiving. However, he does need to take time out to get better, for himself, for his family and for our struggle.”
Adams added: “As we now know, he won’t be standing in the assembly election. That means we have to ensure that the election works for all of the people of the North and that we succeed in building on the progress that has been made since the Good Friday agreement.”
There are now two frontrunners who could replace McGuinness as leader of Sinn Féin in the next assembly at Stormont. They are Conor Murphy, a former IRA prisoner from the republican stronghold of South Armagh, and Michelle O’Neill, the outgoing Sinn Féin minister for health in the collapsed power-sharing coalition.