YouSaid · the spoken record

Michelle O'Neill

lines on the record: 32
first: 2021-01-21
most recent: 2021-01-21
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“So, my thing normally is, I think I got this from my granny, I love to cook, so I love having people over to cook. And obviously I haven't been able to do even that to do my sort of downtime. So I've really been relying on getting out just from a daily exercise, going out for a walk. That's been a big thing just to try and give my head a chance to clear. So at this moment in time, you're allowed to walk with one other person from another household. So in the past number of weeks since Christmas, I've been able to go out with a friend of mine and that's just been brilliant because it did not talk about politics. It's just to talk about life and general things and just, you know, normal, be normal and not be a political leader for a half an hour a day.”
2021-01-21 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Michelle O'Neill One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Oh, I can't wait. Sunshine for sure. Yes. It's very difficult for nobody's had a break this year. And it's just, I think we're all desperate to see, to come out the other side of this and get a bit of family time and a bit of feeling like normal.”
2021-01-21 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Michelle O'Neill One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You know, we're all desperate for some hope in the middle of this pandemic, and I think the vaccine is our hope. We can't put all our eggs in the vaccine basket. It's going to take a”
2021-01-21 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Michelle O'Neill One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I'm very glad that we were there to lead our way through this, albeit very challenging, not all perfect, of course, at all at all. But, you know, trying our very best for people.”
2021-01-21 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Michelle O'Neill One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Certainly has. It's been very draining. I listened to someone actually on the radio yesterday talk about it was actually someone who works in the health service then that basically the Ni cancel out their the last year of their lives. I think actually that's the same for certainly I certainly feel like that everything's been suspended because this has been all consuming all of the time. We only had our politics was broken obviously and we only got it back together at the Assembly and executive restored and then the pandemic hit two months later. So it's certainly consumed all of our time. And yes, those times whenever we were having discussions about downturn in health services, cancer patients not getting their treatment. There was conversations around who could you save those were horrific conversations and certainly something that weighed very heavily and continued to weigh heavily on me individually and then obviously in my leadership role. So it's been the most challenging of years but I'm very glad that we were there.”
2021-01-21 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Michelle O'Neill One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I mean, one of the big things would be the health service, of course, you'd want that to carry on. There isn't the same approach to health in the 26 counties, and that's something that certainly we would want to change in government in a new Ireland. We would have to have an Irish National Health Service. So if you want to take something that's good in terms of what we have in the north that they don't have in the south, then that certainly would be one thing that there is to build on.”
2021-01-21 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Michelle O'Neill One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes, yes, of course. Jerry was the leader of this party for so long, but I think we have transitioned our leadership very successfully. Mary Lou is obviously leading the party into great electoral strength in the 26th and here in the north also. So Jerry is a huge Republican figure in our world and always will be. I mean, that's the man laid us right through the peace process and into recent years. So he certainly has a role to play into the future as well.”
2021-01-21 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Michelle O'Neill One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Absolutely, absolutely all day long. I was going to say one of the very first images that was produced on social media that I saw after I came into post after Martin had to stand down. Martin McGuinness had to stand down was a picture of me and Jerry Adams pocket. That's the most misogynistic image that anybody could decide to. I think women in leadership face misogyny on a daily basis anyway, but probably more than a lot. But I find a lot of the commentary quite often about women leaders is misogynistic.”
2021-01-21 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Michelle O'Neill One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We are not there for entertainment for the public. We are there to lead the party and therefore the debate should be internal. And that was the decision of the leadership of the party. And isn't it the right of every political party to decide how they govern themselves internally? And that's we actually probably operate in a far more open way than most other political parties insofar as we have an ardor that's elected by the membership of the party every year. And it's that body that actually decides the rules that govern the party. So I just think it's a lazy debate, to be honest. And I think also it's a very misogynistic debate. I'm going to add in terms of my own leadership because I hear this thing about pockets and coming from the IRA and all these things that are constantly thrown up. But the fact is that Sinn Fei and probably are more democratic internally than any other organization that I would certainly know the workings of.”
2021-01-21 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Michelle O'Neill One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Do you know who decides leadership of Sinn F ⁇ in? The membership of Sinn F ⁇ in. And it's them who have the debate about who should lead the party. And as a matter of fact, they get to do that every year at our desh, our party conference.”
2021-01-21 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Michelle O'Neill One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“All due respect when I say this that's a very lazy narrative and one that I would challenge on every occasion. Sinn F ⁇ in are a political party. Yes, I have my platform is right. Sinn F ⁇ in are a political party with representation, the length and breadth of Ireland. We have councillors in almost every council across the country. We have MLAs, TDs, Shannon Dorr, MEP MPs. So this nonsense of let's wait for Sinn F ⁇ in to transition until a real political party is an absolute nonsense.”
2021-01-21 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Michelle O'Neill One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Certainly for me, the United Ireland that I want to achieve is not one for Irish nationalist or Republicans. It has to be for everybody who shares this island, including all those people who have a very strong British identity. How do we ensure the British identity and Irish identity lives side by side and feels respected in the middle of the new constitutional position?”
2021-01-21 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Michelle O'Neill One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Certainly, we learned the lessons from Brexit how not to do things, and you need to build a credible argument for constitutional change. And that includes examining all the facts. And that's why we've made the call. It's now time for the Irish government to plan for Irish unity. So start to chart out for people in a very clear way, but all the information on the table, what does it look like? What does the health service look like? What does education look like? What does the economic position look like? And I think the more information that we can put into the public domain now allows people to make an informed decision whenever we actually get the chance to vote, which I do believe will be in this decade. We have both Mary McDonald and myself have set at our stall in terms of the decade of opportunity for some time now. And we believe that this is now where we are. So this is the time to plan. But there's a constitutional imperative in the Irish government to plan for unity and to actually encourage as many people to come into the conversation.”
2021-01-21 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Michelle O'Neill One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I didn't ask for Brexit, but yes, the outworking of Brexit has been that there's going to be major implications. We always said that Brexit and the Good Friday Agreement weren't compatible and there was nothing good to come from Brexit. The DUP ministers who championed and helped deliver Brexit have been found out actually for all the claims that were made around the wonderful things that Brexit was going to bring. All we can see now is chaos all we can see is the implications of Brexit which are dire.”
2021-01-21 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Michelle O'Neill One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And I believe it's even more possible now given the outworkings of Brexit. The people here can see that despite the fact that the majority of people here on a cross-community basis voted to remain, they're being dragged out of the EU against their wishes. That in itself has added and become a catalyst to the conversation around Uniting Ireland. And I think more and more people are now considering the constitutional future because there's a clear choice now for people. They have to decide do they wish to be part of an inward-looking Brexit Britain or an outward-looking inclusive Ireland. And I think that is probably the most exciting political conversation that's now afoot here. And it's increasing actually every day. I find it as a Republican, I find it quite amazing to see the numerous people that are now entering into the conversation. That's a healthy thing because it's not just, it's not my conversation. It's everybody's conversation.”
2021-01-21 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Michelle O'Neill One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, I think across the board, there were things that happened that I think everybody would say that shouldn't have happened. And I think that the thing, I think the tendency all the time is for to bring people back to the politics of condemnation. I don't think that's helpful. I think you have to understand the context in order to understand anything that happened here. But I do think that there were many wrongs on many sides. And I do think that we have a moral obligation and duty collectively as a people to try to make sure that the conditions never exist again and that we build a better future. And at the heart of that, in terms of reconciliation, has to be in the first instance, because this is the only way you'll get on to the point of reconciliation. In the first instance, you have to recognize that everybody's experience is different and we're going to have to accept that you have to respect the difference. There's different narratives of the past. Mine, it won't be the same as Arning Foster's and never will be.”
2021-01-21 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Michelle O'Neill One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“If you remember that Mihal Martin is a opposition party and in terms of the situation in the south, Sinn F ⁇ in are very much in tune with the wider public opinion. So Mihal Martin would take any opportunity to take a swipe at Sinn F ⁇ in. But let's deal with the past and in a holistic way. I will play my part in terms of healing the past. I will play my part in making sure that the conditions of conflict never occur again. We have the peace process. We have the Good Friday Agreement. We have a way forward. And that's where we need to be focusing our efforts. But I would say this in terms of dealing with the past, it isn't just Sinn F ⁇ in's assertion that the barrier to moving forward is the British government. That's also the view of the Irish government, the Catholic Church and many, many others who know that the British government are in dangerous territory and trying to cover up what happened here.”
2021-01-21 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Michelle O'Neill One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think that we have engaged absolutely wholeheartedly actually in the issue of dealing with the past and Republicans will play their part in terms of dealing with the past. We called for the International Truth Commission, just like South Africa. Five years ago, there was an agreement struck across all political parties and two governments to deal with the past, and the British government had blocked it ever since. So the only barrier to actually adequately dealing with the past is actually the British government.”
2021-01-21 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Michelle O'Neill One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I mean, we have at times a different times talked about different lived experiences. Just in terms of your point around the South African experience, that is exactly what would be the Sinn F ⁇ in position, that there should have been, that should have been the exact approach that we've taken here. But unfortunately, and this is one of the things that's so frustrating about today and this generation of people, is that post-conflict, you have to adequately deal with the past in order to allow people to move forward. And the British government have blocked every mechanism to deal with the past because they don't want it to be exposed, what happened and what they did here in Ireland. And that goes to the heart of the British government's policy in terms of legacy and dealing with the conflict and the issues of the past.”
2021-01-21 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Michelle O'Neill One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, firstly, I wish that it never happened because I think that the experience of far too many people here was one of loss, was one of imposition on their everyday lives, was one of discrimination. And you can't look at the conflict and what happened here without looking at it in its whole context. And the context was actually partition. And it was the fact that the northern state, the north of Ireland was built on division, on sectarianism, on inequality. And a lot of those things still exist today. However, we're in a very different political position then. So I think when you look back, it's really important to reflect on the context of the time. And as I said, no one woke up here in the morning and decided let's go seek conflict. The conflict came to Ireland. So I think that the job of my generation, if you like, is to make sure that that is never anybody.”
2021-01-21 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Michelle O'Neill One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“He's a very, he obviously has a very strong influence on my life and who I've become, and I would say mostly because of I liked what he did in society. I liked that he was a go-to person, that he helped the community around us, that he was someone who put others' interests first. So he was trying to work, obviously as a Republican, he believed in United Ireland. He also was not someone, he didn't go out and seek conflict. Conflict came to here to our shores. And I think that for all the roles that my father has played throughout his life, or he did play throughout his life, I'm very grateful of the person that he was and very grateful for what he passed on to me in terms of my understanding and my outlook in life. But he very much influenced, I suppose, my journey into politics because he just was, he was an activist first and foremost. He was a community activist. And I really, really loved that that's the person that he was. And I think then one day I realized that I just was naturally drifting into.”
2021-01-21 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Michelle O'Neill One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think it's because it's still relatively fresh in people's minds. I don't think it's that hard to describe. And I think the implications of partition obviously this year marks 100 years since the item was partitioned. And that again has focused a lot of conversation and debate around the constitutional position, which then invokes all the other things that have come throughout that 100 years. So for 100 years, I think the partition of Ireland has failed. Everybody, not just nationalists and Republicans, it's failed everybody who shares this side. And I think that the real lived experience of generations carries through. And, you know, because of the conflict, it's not that far in the past. It still has an intergenerational impact. The experience of grandparents has passed on to young children. But my determination is that the new generation will not fight the battles of the past. We've tried to build something better.”
2021-01-21 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Michelle O'Neill One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, I had lovely childhood in terms of my own experience at home and only as myself and my brother, so we're very close and I'm very grateful for that. So I can't say it was a childhood affair, but it certainly was something that a life that I wouldn't wish for my children, my grandchildren, in terms of just growing up with the normal, like it was normal practice to walk up the street and walk into British Army patrols, you know, heavily militarised society. As I said, the experience of nationalists was of discrimination, no housing, no jobs, all those things had a huge impact on shaping many people's outlook in life.”
2021-01-21 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Michelle O'Neill One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So I was born in 1977, so you're born right into the height of the conflict. And it's a very challenging time, a very difficult time. And probably what I perceive to be normal childhood, you wouldn't expect anybody else in today's standards to live through that. So you're growing up as a nationalist, as a Republican, you're growing up in a system of discrimination. You're growing up in a system where the norm for me growing up were, for example, early morning raids, the British Army coming into my home, you know, searching through our home. My father would have been arrested on many occasions. And so all those things really impact on you as an individual. And at the time, probably we just didn't know any different, but certainly on reflection now in my old year.”
2021-01-21 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Michelle O'Neill One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, so I mean, sometimes people think political leaders are people apart. We're all very normal people, and both Arlene Nice shared the same worries, concerns for our families as many, many, everybody else did actually in society. So at one stage, both of our mums were unwell. And so that's something I worry that we carry as well as trying to govern, as well as trying to keep the five-party coalition on track and respond to the COVID crisis.”
2021-01-21 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Michelle O'Neill One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We laugh about different things at times. I mean, we have a very strange relationship at Times, of course, too, but we can share just everyday normal things. I mean, particularly during the pandemic, the first wave of the pandemic, we joked about the fact that we were living in each other's bubble, practically because we spent that much time together. So that became a bit of a run and joke even in the media at that time.”
2021-01-21 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Michelle O'Neill One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I have, surely. I mean, we share some things in common insofar as we're both female political leaders, both mummies, both daughters, both come from west of the band, so come from rural areas. And I think that stands to us in terms of just good government and trying to reach into rural areas and out of the sort of greater Belfast area. So there are things that we have in common, of course.”
2021-01-21 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Michelle O'Neill One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, yes, you're absolutely right in terms of our relationship. I mean, that we have, we'll pull our opposites in terms of our political outlook. So to govern together is extremely challenging and difficult. And there's days it works out better than others, if the truth be told. But the nature of our politics in the north is that we actually have an executive, so the administration has five political parties around the table. So that is a challenge every day before you even get into the fact that we all have ideological polar opposite positions.”
2021-01-21 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Michelle O'Neill One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Of Brexit. So, I think they now will all be sitting with their ears pricked up and listening very carefully to what has been said in the United States. And we very much will harness that relationship because we believe in the Good Friday Agreement.”
2021-01-21 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Michelle O'Neill One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Genuinely do believe that they will. I mean, as I said, we have many allies in terms of the peace process in the United States and all in very senior positions now right as far up as the president of the United States now. And then they're all very committed to the Good Friday Agreement, which at the heart of the Good Further Agreement is the principle of consent where it will be the people alone on this island who will decide the constitutional future. But we very much, I mean, I as a United Irelander and Jerry Adams in his term as leader of the party previously always worked every day to make that good Friday agreement deliverable and to actually bring about the time whenever we can have the referendum. So I would expect that in terms of the approach of the new American administration, it would be very much to hold up the Good Friday Agreement and also I would imagine have an impact on the British government in terms of their approach to the Good Friday Agreement and they have demonstrated I suppose disregard and disrespect for the Good Friday Agreement over recent years and particularly in the key”
2021-01-21 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Michelle O'Neill One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Absolutely. I think we will very much welcome that and I hope he does get the chance to stop and just be supposed to forge his new links with Ireland again in his new role as President of the United States. So I think we'll very much be open to that visit.”
2021-01-21 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Michelle O'Neill One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Isn't it fantastic? I think it's a new beginning for the United States after what has been a very turbulent number of years under the Trump presidency, but particularly for Ireland. I mean, America has always been a really good friend to Ireland and in particular to our peace process. And Joe Biden, as you have said, has described himself as I'm Irish. And you can see all of his public contributions involved some element of presenting his Irishness. So I think he'd be a good friend to us in the time ahead. I think that the challenges which we face as a society, whether because of Brexit and COVID and everything else, I think we're in for a new kind of relationship with the United States and Joe Biden, along with many of his colleagues, because we've a lot of friends of Ireland in the United States, in Nancy Pelosi and Sindhar Richie Neil and many, many others, so particularly given the damage with Brexit, I think that we very much look towards the United States and our friends and our allies there.”
2021-01-21 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Michelle O'Neill One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source