The attendance of two senior Sinn Féin members at the 2019 inauguration of Venezuela’s former president Nicolás Maduro has been defended by the party.
Justice spokesman Matt Carthy said any suggestion that Irish representatives should not go to states where there are breaches of international or humanitarian law or democracy would “severely limit” their ability to call out such breaches.
US forces captured Mr Maduro along with his wife Cilia Flores in a military operation earlier this month.
Sinn Féin’s Senator Conor Murphy – then a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly – and former party general secretary Dawn Doyle attended Mr Maduro’s inauguration in 2019.
The party said its representatives were invited by the Venezuelan government, and Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said at the time: “We believe the Venezuelan election was open and democratic.”
Mr Maduro again declared victory in the 2024 Venezuelan election, despite evidence provided by the opposition, and reviewed by independent analysts, showing another candidate on course for a resounding victory.
Mr Maduro had been elected twice previously, in 2012 and 2018, having succeeded long-time socialist president Hugo Chávez.
There were allegations of electoral fraud in the 2018 election.
The attendance of Sinn Féin members at the 2019 inauguration has come in for criticism from some in Government in recent days, with Tánaiste Simon Harris highlighting it last week.
Asked at a press conference at Leinster House whether Sinn Féin now regretted its members’ attendance at the inauguration, Mr Carthy said: “It was in 2019, so obviously, the circumstances were very different.
“I listened to Government representatives talk about Sinn Féin attending the inauguration of somebody who they claimed wasn’t elected and they were making those comments on the same day that the Taoiseach was actually in China. So we won’t take any lectures from Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael in that regard.”
Mr Carthy said the party was a supporter of democracies around the world.
“We absolutely condemn what has been very dangerous in terms of international law – precedents that have been set by the actions of the United States over the past number of weeks.”
As to whether Sinn Féin stood over its defence of the democratic credentials of Mr Maduro’s regime, given the allegations of fraud in 2018 and 2024, Mr Carthy replied: “I’m not going to have a historical debate in terms of the validity of one election or another.”
He said the party engaged in international work on an ongoing basis, and that its principles related to national self-determination and the fundamental principles of democracy.
“At this moment in time, the United States of America is in breach of international law through their actions, and we think that as a small, independent, neutral country, that Ireland should be stating that categorically,” he said.
Mr Carthy confirmed that Sinn Féin had previously raised concerns about the actions of the Maduro regime.
“And you’ll see through resolutions in the European Parliament as far back as when I was a member, we’ve supported resolutions and we’ve supported amendments that have been extremely critical of administrations all over the world.”
Mr Carthy said that if Irish representatives did not travel to states where there were breaches of international or humanitarian law, or principles of democracy, this would “limit severely… the ability of elected representatives to go to a lot of places in the world”.
“The important thing for a political party and for a government to do is to call out breaches of international law, call out breaches of human rights, call out breaches of democracy, when and where they happen – and that’s what Sinn Féin do consistently.”
In 2019, Mr Murphy defended his decision to travel, stating that Mr Maduro had been “democratically elected”.
“We will use our presence in Venezuela to express our continuing solidarity to the people supporting their legitimate demands to build a just and equal society, free from foreign intervention,” he said.
Efforts have been made to contact Ms Doyle.