ANTI-fracking activist Tanya Jones, who is set to contest the general election for the Green Party next May, has hit out at Sinn Fein MP Michelle Gildernew, describing her as “naive”.

The Enniskillen woman, a long-standing member of the Green Party, has criticised the Fermanagh-south Tyrone representative for refusing to take her seat at Westminster.

In last week’s Impartial Reporter, Ms. Gildernew outlined her position, explaining that taking part or voting in the House of Commons now or if she gets re-elected next year would be “irrelevant”.

Mrs. Jones, who is after Sinn Fein’s Westminster seat, disagrees with Ms. Gildernew’s approach.

“It seems a very odd line to take. If she is an MP just to do constituency work then really that could be done from any point-of-view – you don’t have to be an MP to do that. The point of being an MP is to represent your constituents in the House of Commons. To say that is irrelevant seems slightly naive to me,” said Mrs. Jones, in an interview with The Impartial Reporter.

“Sinn Fein have made various high profile announcements about fracking but when it comes to actual work on the ground with the exception of one or two individuals we sadly haven’t seen very much from them. People want actual representation in the House of Commons and I think a lot of people find it deeply frustrating that we have been 13/14 years with an MP who doesn’t take her seat. It means when really important issues come up such as the House of Commons’ vote on the bombing of Iraq we don’t have a voice,” she said.

Ms. Gildernew made the point last week that taking part in votes had little impact on decisions, something Mrs. Jones does not accept.

“No, I don’t agree with that,” she said. “At the beginning of this parliamentary term when there were negotiations going on between all of the parties as to what coalition could have been formed there were tiny numbers that were significant. If Sinn Fein had taken their seats it could have made a very big difference to the situation for everybody.” Mrs. Jones has been a campaigner in the frack-free movement and worked with Fermanagh Fracking Awareness Network. She says she will continue to oppose fracking in Fermanagh if she is elected.

“People realise that it was the Green Party who were first opposed to fracking and have always been consistently anti-fracking,” said Mrs. Jones. “I hope fracking won’t take place here. I don’t think we are out of the woods by any means. I think there is a lot of political pressure in favour of fracking – neither Westminster, Stormont or Dublin have shown any real disinclination to encourage it. We have been fortunate in the strength of our campaign.” The mother-of-three (Gawain, Rory and Aidan) cited the “four pillars of the Green Party”.

“Environmental sustainability, social justice, non violence and participatory democracy. They all link in together and you can’t have one without the other.” On the issue of cuts, the 49-year-old suggested that the budget should be balanced “without cutting services to the most vulnerable”.

“You look at spending in all departments and look at what is benefiting Northern Ireland and what isn’t. I think huge amounts of money, for example, are being given to multi-national companies in so-called inward investment which goes to corporations which are in no need for it.

“They employ local people but they aren’t all necessary local people. A lot of people come in from elsewhere. I don’t think Enniskillen should be without supermarkets but I think everybody realises that when you have large supermarkets they drain money, resources, employees away from smaller, independent businesses, which otherwise could have thrived,” she said.

On other politicians, Mrs. Jones said: “The people of Northern Ireland have been let down terribly by the mainstream parties because we have this concentration all the time on the politics of identity and issues such as parades and flags and so on. These don’t affect people’s jobs, education, their health, the future of their children.”