Francie Molloy

Like other Sinn Féin MPs, Francie Molloy refuses to take his seat parliament, in protest of the chamber’s allegedly illegitimate control over policy in Northern Ireland. He was previously a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Mid Ulster from 1998 to 2013 before running for parliament for Mid Ulster, a position previously been held by fellow Sinn Féin politician and deputy first minister Martin McGuiness. McGuiness had resigned as an MP after the party phased out “double-jobbing”, where representatives would hold positions as both MPs and assembly members. Molloy has denied controversial claims from the DUP that he was involved in the 1979 killing of RUC reservist Frederick “Eric” Lutton and that he had been a police informer. He was involved in further controversy after tweeting as MPs prepared to vote for airstrikes against the so-called Islamic State in Syria, “Brits back to what they do best, Murder.” After David Cameron said that MPs opposing military action were lining up with “a bunch of terrorist sympathisers”, Molloy commented that the PM was the “real terrorist”. Molloy and Sinn Féin refused to apologise for the remarks.