SF should avail of report on IRA by ‘telling the truth’

Sinn Féin should take advantage of the British government-appointed panel’s report on the status of the IRA and the other paramilitaries by “just telling the truth”, the SDLP leader Dr Alasdair McDonnell has urged.

As the political talks aimed at resolving issues over paramilitarism, the past and welfare reform continued at Stormont, Dr McDonnell said the report published on Tuesday demonstrated the IRA “went away all right, but confirms that they didn’t go too far”.

Around corner

“They went around the corner and joined Sinn Féin as they had been told to do, and now they are leafleting and electioneering. That’s good, and certainly better than killing, and overall the whole Provisional movement is now solidly behind its political leadership in Sinn Féin,” said the SDLP leader.

“But that also means that people who are presently in the party and knocking on our doors have intimate knowledge of the crimes of the dirty war. Older members know who shot Jean McConville in the head, who mowed down the factory workers at Kingsmill,” he added.

"Younger ones know who killed Robert McCartney and Paul Quinn, who robbed Makro and the Gallahers cigarette lorries and the Northern Bank. It doesn't really matter now whether Gerry Adams was ever in the Provisional IRA. A whole lot of his members definitely were and they don't even bother to deny it," he said.

Dr McDonnell commended the “straight-talking report”. “First of all it provides no comfort for anyone who would seek to deny Sinn Féin’s mandate by excluding the party from government. It has hard words to say about loyalism, which unionism will need to address.

Challenge

“But secondly, and more importantly right now, this report issues a challenge to the whole nationalist community North and South because it pulls the rug out from under all the bluster and spin that has followed each Provo killing, beating or robbery over the last 20 years.”

Dr McDonnell said it was a pity the panel had not followed the “money trail” further. “The money from those robberies did not just evaporate, it was invested in front businesses and it funded further illegal activities such as diesel laundering, which is being carried out with Pira personnel, infrastructure and muscle,” he continued.

“The Sinn Féin leadership say there is no evidence for all this . . . There is no evidence because a considerable proportion of their members are still bound by the secrecy oath they swore when they joined the IRA,” Dr McDonnell added.