NOMINATION:SINN FÉIN presidential candidate and former republican paramilitary Martin McGuinness has "unreservedly" condemned the IRA killing of Det Garda Jerry McCabe in an attempted robbery at Adare, Co Limerick, in June, 1996.
“I unreservedly condemned the murder of Jerry McCabe,” he said in Dublin yesterday. “It was a terrible injustice on himself, on his wife, and on his family. It was a terrible, terrible tragedy and brought no credit whatsoever to Irish republicanism.”
Mr McGuinness, who was lodging his nomination papers for the election, played down comments made earlier to Newstalk radio about “West Brits” in the media and elsewhere who were highlighting his involvement with the IRA.
“There is a very tiny number of people who fit into that category, but there are undoubtedly a number of people out there who are very determined to try and undermine my campaign. But I’m not going to get fixated about any of that,” he said.
“It was an off-the-cuff remark and, if I have offended people in the media, it wasn’t generally meant for the media. Some people might have some idea of whom I am speaking. I certainly would not apply that description generally to the media.”
Asked whether he could understand why people might have difficulty believing his assertion that he left the IRA in 1974, he said: “I went to prison on two occasions for membership of the IRA, in 1973 and 1974, on the word of a Garda superintendent.
“I was never, ever charged with membership of the IRA after that, except on one occasion in 1976 when I was brought to Castlereagh interrogation centre in Belfast and they threw down a sheaf of newspapers in front of me, and that was their evidence . . . and the case collapsed within a few days.”
Reiterating his willingness to meet Queen Elizabeth if he became president, Mr McGuinness spoke in complimentary terms about the British monarch’s Irish visit last May.
“The fact that she was prepared to recognise the importance of the Irish language, recognise the importance of paying homage to people that we regard as patriots in the Garden of Remembrance, but, probably most important of all for me, when she said in her speech something along the lines of, ‘There were many things that happened in the past that we wished would not have happened’.
“It was a very clear indicator that she recognised that the British themselves had some considerable responsibility for what happened in relation to the North and the conflict which ensued over many decades,” he said.
The actual comment made by the monarch in her Dublin Castle speech was: “With the benefit of historical hindsight we can all see things which we would wish had been done differently or not at all.”
West Brits: What Martin McGuinness said:
"There are West Brit elements in and around Dublin. Some of them are attached to some sections of the media, others are attached to political parties and were formerly involved in political parties and I say to all of them, I go forward on my record, and my record as a peacemaker, I think, is unequalled anywhere."
