A Sinn Féin MP who tweeted a video appearing to mock an IRA atrocity in which 10 Protestant civilians were murdered in Northern Ireland has resigned.

Barry McElduff stepped down on Monday as MP for West Tyrone.



Last week, he was told by the Sinn Féin leadership that he would not be allowed to carry out party work, although he would still receive full pay.



McElduff posted an image of a Kingsmill loaf of bread on his head on the 42nd anniversary of the massacre near the village of Kingsmill in South Armagh.



Eleven Protestant workers were lined up and shot by the IRA in 1976. Only one survived.



Michelle O’Neill, Sinn Féin’s leader in Northern Ireland, apologised to the victims last week, saying the video was not the conduct expected of a party member.



However, O’Neill said McElduff’s actions were not “malicious or intended to cause the hurt or pain which they did”.



He was resigning “as a consequence of the unintended hurt” caused by the video, she said.



In the video, McElduff walked around a shop with the loaf on his head and said: “I’m in the Classic Service Station here, but I’m just wondering – where does McCullough’s keep the bread?”

Announcing his resignation, McElduff said he did not want to be a “barrier to reconciliation”.



“It is with great sadness that, after more than 30 years as an active Sinn Féin member and public representative, I am tendering my resignation as MP for West Tyrone,” he said.



“The reason I am doing so is because of the consequences of the Twitter video which caused such controversy over the last week. But the deep and unnecessary hurt this video caused the families of Kingsmill is my greatest regret.

“Had I been conscious of the connection to the terrible atrocity at Kingsmill, I would certainly not have posted that tweet. I genuinely did not make that connection.”

There will be a byelection in West Tyrone, a Sinn Féin stronghold, following McElduff’s resignation.

The men murdered at Kingsmill were killed by members of the IRA’s South Armagh Brigade, though the organisation has never admitted its role in the atrocity.



It is believed to have been carried out in retaliation for sectarian murders of Catholics by loyalist paramilitaries.



The workmen were taken out of their minibus and shot repeatedly. A Catholic colleague was spared because he told the gunmen his religion.

No one has ever been convicted over the murders, but a three-year inquest is still running in Belfast.