More
than three weeks after the killing of Robert McCartney,
the PIRA has still not delivered up the murderers
of the Short Strand man, despite the fact that on
the 16th of February, the Provisional IRA issued
a statement signed by its nom de plume P O'Neill,
saying that as an organisation they had no part
in the murder and ''We wish to make it absolutely
clear that no-one should hinder or impede the McCartney
family in their search for truth and justice. Anyone
who can help the family in this should do so."
As far as we are aware, since this statement, no
one has come forward to give evidence to the PSNI
as to what they saw in Magenniss’ bar on the
night Mr McCartney was murdered, preferring to trust
their well being to a lifetime's experience of living
alongside the PIRA, rather than attempt to interpret
P O'Neill's true intentions. What does this say
about how the PIRA is now viewed within this community
and beyond? There was a time when P. O'Neill issued
a public statement on behalf of Oglaigh na hEireann,
no one would doubt its authenticity nor the meaning
of what was written. These days far from being the
final word from the PIRA, P. O'Neill is little more
than an arm of Connolly House's propaganda department.
How the mighty have fallen.
This being the case, if the PRM is to regain the
same degree of trust that once existed between them
and the people of the Short Strand, and indeed similar
communities across the north of Ireland, they have
no choice but to deliver up the guilty men. Indeed
the fact that not a single Sinn Fein Short Strand
Councillor has demanded this of them sadly shows
only too clearly the political time warp many of
these local politicians seem to be in. Nowhere was
this better demonstrated than by SF’s Alex
Maskey’s behaviour directly after the murder,
when he condemned the PSNI for going about their
business trying to solve this crime. It is high
time many of these Councillors made a break from
their past and realised their job today is to represent
those who elected them: they are not there to provide
cover nor orchestrate applause for the IRA, for
they, as we have seen over Mr McCartney’s murder,
are well able to do this for themselves. Having
said this it is still not too late for these SF
Councillors to come forward and do the decent thing
by demanding PIRA turn in the guilty men.
It is all very well for Gerry Adams to babble on
about witnesses going to a solicitor or priest if
they have any evidence. But in reality it is hardly
helpful nor is it going to encourage people to come
forward. It would have been more helpful if Mr Adams
had got together with his fellow nationalist party
leader, Mark Durkan of the SDLP, and asked witnesses
to approach the two of them; Durkan and Adams would
then accompany these understandably frightened people
to the PSNI. Too fanciful, no matter; there is a
far simpler alternative for Mr Adams. He could,
if he was only willing, demand that his fellow Republicans
at the top of the PIRA turn their members who committed
this crime over to the Garda Síochána
(it is said one of those who allegedly carried out
this crime is now hiding in the south ROI) or PSNI.
There was said to have been at least fourteen serving
volunteers in Magenniss Bar on the night of Mr McCartney's
death. This being so the leadership of the PIRA
will have been fully informed as to the identity
of the murderers. So they will know only too well
who the guilty parties are.
If this does not happen and these killers remain
at large, the seventy odd people who witnessed this
cowardly act or were in the bar when the deed was
done will spend the rest of their lives forever
blaming themselves for not having done the correct
thing, yet fearful of the consequences for themselves
and their families if they had. For the Nationalist
communities of the north in general, whilst the
failure of PIRA to act will not be as personal,
it will leave them in no doubt that these days the
PRM sees the best interest of the people of Ireland
as secondary to that of their (PIRA) own selfish
interests and self preservation. This from a movement
whose members have fought heroically against enormous
odds for the last thirty odd years, whose members
freely gave their lives whilst on hunger strike
so that their comrades and thus the communities
from which they came would not be tarred with the
criminal tag. Others suffered greatly, some for
decades in British jails so the people of Ireland
could be free of the British States oppressive yoke.
I say again the leadership of the PIRA have shown
by their refusal to turn these men in that they
are self-interested bastards who are willing to
betray all that has gone before.
Admittedly this one callous act does not wipe away
any of the above sacrifices. But unless the leadership
of Oglaigh na hEireann get to grips with this murder
and follow the lead of the local community, then
their organisation will undoubtedly be tarred with
the criminality tag, not only by the usual suspects
but by the very people from whence they came. What
a tragic legacy this would be. They will be making
a grave mistake if they feel given time things will
quieten down and soon all will be back to normal
in the Short Strand. If this is their plan, then
they should understand they will be inflicting upon
the people of the Short Strand their worst nightmare,
i. e., the monsters who so brutally murdered their
neighbour will once again be strutting their streets
as if the very pavement belongs to them.
PIRA
should re-learn the following: acquiescence can
be gained through fear — respect and loyalty
have to be earned, again and again. After all, they
have the living example of another organisation
even more secretive than their own, the Roman Catholic
Church, which for decades covered up and kept in
place child abusers and sexual deviants. Yet in
the long run the Church was forced to listen to
its parishioners and clean its stables, although
not before enormous damage was done to the Church's
reputation.
The
current leadership of the PIRA have the legacy of
Oglaigh na hEireann in its hands. Most Republicans,
in their hearts, know the days of armed struggle
to remove the British State are over. Thus this
legacy the leadership of the PIRA now hold may well
be how history views their movement, a grave responsibility
indeed. One can only hope they live up to it, although
of late there is little sign they will.
