A
sure sign that Sinn Fein continues to smart from
the effects of the McCartney women's campaign came
courtesy of a Stephen Sackur interview with Martin
McGuinness on the BBC's HARDtalk programme. Although
the Sinn Fein man's performance was out of character
in that it was good, he couldn't resist a poke at
those he rightly deemed to have turned his outfit
inside out in their search for justice. The justice
seeking party simply took egg faced umbrage at being
exposed for its failure to deliver a fair outcome
to the family of the late Robert McCartney. While
he went further than almost anybody else in his
party, by describing those responsible for slaying
Robert McCartney as 'lowlife', McGuinness hinted
very strongly that the dead man's family had a political
agenda.
Catherine
McCartney bridled with thinly veiled anger when
this was put to her:
If
Martin McGuinness wants to make such false claims
I would welcome the opportunity to face him in open
debate; on television, radio or wherever; any venue
where people would have a chance to see him try
to mount a defence of these untrue accusations.
During
his BBC interview, McGuinness reiterated the Sinn
Fein mantra that the party supports the McCartney
justice campaign. With Rita O'Hare having claimed
that the party also supports the justice campaign
mounted by the relatives of Dublin murder victim
Joseph Rafferty, widely believed to have been killed
by someone with Sinn Fein links, such claims all
too inevitably invite ridicule and incredulity.
Accepting
Sinn Fein bona fides has been a challenge for the
McCartney family almost from the outset. Alex Maskey's
stance in seeking to side with his election workers
rather than the PSNI pursuit of them did not augur
well for future confidence in the party. Last June,
according to Catherine McCartney, Sinn Fein president
Gerry Adams told the family that much of the party's
early stance was based on information it had been
fed by local members of the Republican Movement
in the Short Strand but which had since proved to
be 'bullshit.' Adams told the family that the IRA
account of what happened in and around Magennis's
bar was inaccurate. Yet according to Catherine,
the IRA has at no point stated what these inaccuracies
are and have 'yet to make it clear what it was Gerry
Adams was bullshitted on.'
Thirteen
months since the murder the family of Robert McCartney
find it difficult to conceal their frustration at
the state of judicial limbo seemingly arrived at
in the investigation. However, with people on remand
charged in connection to the killing the requirements
of sub judice have kicked in. Can the family really
expect much more at this point?
Catherine
McCartney for one thinks that such expectations
are not misplaced.
Only
two people charged, and just one with murder; many
others are walking the streets free. Of course we
can expect more. The publicity the case has got
alongside the number of people present in the bar
on the evening Robert was murdered would lead you
to think people know a lot more than they are coming
forward with. The ombudsman's investigation has
not proved fruitful at all. Between them, the PSNI
and Nuala O'Loan have 151 witness statements, but
none which are of evidential value. It is all very
well for Sinn Fein to say they have asked people
to come forward. When they do come forward they
ensure nothing of importance is disclosed.
When
I put it to her that there were grounds for suspecting
that an agent was being covered for and that this
was thwarting the PSNI investigation, she declined
to be drawn, saying only that if such suspicions
have substance it is imperative for agencies such
as the office of the ombudsman to investigate.
The
campaign for justice has not been without its critics,
some of whom claim that amongst its supporters are
those willing to label and intimidate. Gwen Brennan,
for example, in an interview with a Sinn Fein views
paper alleged that 'people have been shouting at
my family that we are murderers, stabbers and scumbags.'
She expressed her horror at the murder and pointed
out she attended the vigil in memory of Robert days
after he died. Catherine thinks this account does
not add up.
Nobody
in this family is shouting at Gwen. But she did
attend the picket outside Brigeen's house which
ultimately lead to Brigeen leaving the home she
shared with Robert and the two boys. Strange that
she failed to mention that in her interview.
It
is not just Gwen Brennan who has raised concerns,
however. One firm backer of the McCartney women
expressed reservations that some of those outwardly
supportive of justice for Robert had seized on an
opportunity to intimidate local republicans. The
IRA is perceived in some quarters as having its
hands tied. Consequently, there are people prepared
to take this as license 'to put it up to those who
can longer hide behind the woolly faces.'
Catherine
McCartney does not dismiss such misgivings but contends:
If
people are intimidating members or supporters of
the Republican Movement then it should stop. We
have no control over it and certainly do not support
it. We accept that people feel let down by the elitism
of the Republican Movement which has come to replace
the communal solidarity between republicans and
the wider community. Some may feel that they want
to get their own back after years of being bullied.
But they cannot use our campaign to justify their
actions.
Other
criticism has been directed at the family decision
to pursue its campaign through the offices of George
Bush. A dangerous liaison? Catherine laughs it off,
pointing out that if a British soldier, PSNI member,
loyalist or dissident republican had killed Robert,
such criticism would be muted.
If
it is legitimate for Gerry Adams to meet with George
Bush at a time when the US is bombing Iraq, why
does it suddenly become wrong for this family to
follow the same trail to his office in our search
for justice. George Bush can't give us justice,
we know that. But Gerry Adams can. And The Bush
administration can be leverage on Adams to deliver.
Whatever it takes - as long as we do not inflict
injustice in pursuit of justice, we can live with
it.
Here
she contrasted the family's approach to George Bush
and its refusal to share a platform with the former
Tory Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Last November
Catherine and another sister were in London to receive
an Outstanding Achievement Award when they learned
that sharing the platform with them would be the
former Tory leader.
We
were informed literally minutes before we were due
to take the stage that Margaret Thatcher would also
be receiving an award. Some press reports suggested
that it was a shrewd move and well thought through
on our part. Nothing could be more untrue. We simply
made an on the spot decision consistent with out
own personal principles. Our intention was not to
embarrass the organisers of the awards and they
understood this. But we were there in pursuit of
justice and could not share a platform with a person
who had brought so much injustice to Ireland and
to the community we grew up in.
In
making their stand against the Pinochet cheerleader,
the McCartneys first upset and then incurred the
wrath of Thatcher's old sycophant, Bernard Ingham.
Still grovelling at her feet, he muttered:
I
think it is very interesting that the McCartney
sisters protested at IRA thugs killing their brother.
Where were the protests when IRA thugs were killing
thousands of people and were trying to blow up Mrs
Thatcher? I think it is monumental hypocrisy. It
is a useful opportunity to draw attention to their
campaign but it does not strike me as having anything
to do with justice.
Swooning
in servility and endlessly in need of the intoxicated
state achieved from a Thatcheresque pat on the head,
Ingham could never be expected to reach the judgement
that there was an intellectual consistency in the
actions of the two McCartney sisters. Did he expect
them to oppose thugs in Belfast but stand shoulder
to shoulder with a mega thug just because she allows
him to slaver at her feet? When he said 'Mrs Thatcher
has a wonderful capacity to smoke people out', it
would never dawn on him that the smoky image such
language conjures is one of incinerated Argentinean sailors on the
Belgrano.
Despite
Ingham, the sisters won praise from some unexpected
quarters including a former minister in the Thatcher
government, Norman Tebbitt. Sinn Fein said little,
perhaps because it seems not to mind engaging with
the Conservatives. Conor Murphy the MP for Newry
and Armagh attended the Tory Party conference last
October. Although she would have intuited the irony
I decided not to raise it with her. Sinn Fein have
enough contradictions to deal with. As far as Catherine
McCartney is concerned the party can meet with whomever
it chooses.
Not
much there that would reinforce Martin McGuinness
in his accusations of a political agenda guiding
the spirit of the McCartney women. In the meantime,
the five sisters and partner of Robert McCartney
are determined to push on with their justice agenda
and ensure that their brother does not go down as
one more statistic. If justice evades them they will have truth.
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