THE former Northern Ireland Secretary, Mr Tom King, yesterday paid tribute to the murdered detective, Det Garda Jerry McCabe. The British Prime Minister, Mr John Major, and the shadow Northern Ireland Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, also joined in expressions of sympathy to Mr McCabe's widow and family.
Mr King raised the murder during Prime Minister's Question Time in the House of Commons, recalling that just last month the British Irish Interparliamentary Body had met in Adare. Mr King had been accompanied throughout that visit by Det Garda McCabe.
Mr King asked: "Is the Prime Minister aware that last week, in that same beautiful village, that outstanding officer was gunned down by an IRA gang?"
The former Northern Secretary asked Mr Major to "join with me ... in sending our deepest sympathy to the widow and family of Jerry McCabe and to Commissioner Culligan and all his colleagues in the Garda Siochana."
In reply, Mr Major said Sinn Fein's refusal to condemn the murder "only demonstrates even more clearly precisely why Sinn Fein cannot join in the talks currently taking place until such time as there is a clear cut, unequivocal ceasefire and we can be confident that it is going to be retained."