"It’s appropriate this contribution to the advancement of peace and reconciliation is rightly recognised," O’Neill, who is also the deputy first minister of the multi-party executive led by unionist Arlene Foster, said during a special sitting of the local parliament to pay tribute to the Queen’s husband, who died on Friday, aged 99.
The Sinn Féin also recalled that the royal family was directly impacted by the conflict when Philip’s uncle, Lord Louis Mountbatten, was killed by the Irish Republican Army in 1979 when it detonated a bomb on board his boat off the coast of County Sligo, Ireland.
"Having endured such personal loss, the royal family set about working towards advancing peace and reconciliation and I have been witness to these efforts and their example of leadership myself in recent years," O’Neill was quoted as saying by the Irish Times online edition.
Despite sharing power in the Northern Ireland government, Sinn Féin lawmakers still refuse to take the seven UK parliament seats they won the 2019 general elections over the oath of allegiance to the royal family all elected members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords have to take.
