It
gets worse by the day for Sinn Fein. Not once has
the party seized the initiative in its ongoing conflict
with the McCartney family. Its attempt to dress
up such conflict in the language of cooperation
runs aground virtually every few days as some new
revelation comes to light. With party election candidates,
past and present, Cora Groogan, Deirdre Hargey and
Sean Hayes now admitting to having been in the bar
on the night of the attack, Sinn Fein will find
the going hard as it strives to depict itself as
an honest broker.
Few
actually know what, if anything, each of these people
witnessed on the night in question. None of them
are thugs and there is no suggestion that they had
any part in the violence. In statements submitted
to either their solicitors or the police ombudsman
they apparently claimed to have seen nothing. As
an exercise in persuading doubters it is a bootless
endeavour. Yet, they alone know the accuracy of
their own claims. But taken in conjunction with
those who are suspects all exercising their legal
right to refuse to answer questions under arrest
- giving off the image that IRA training has kicked
in - Sinn Fein will have its work cut out to fend
off allegations that the party is not coordinating
a cover up. What many were prepared to concede was
initial bad management on Sinn Fein's part has now
given way to suspicions of bad faith.
It
may well be that there was nobody in the bar other
than Sinn Fein and IRA members and this might explain
why no witnesses in possession of evidence have
come forward. Misplaced loyalty to friends, being
got to, the anonymous pressure of the group, or
an awareness that they still have to live in the
community close to the killers' friends and families
can all serve as powerful disincentives to anyone
thinking about scaling the wall of silence. It is
inconceivable that all the Sinn Fein or IRA members
in the bar that evening would have approved of what
their party and militia colleagues were doing to
one of the party's own voters. Nevertheless, the
images of that night are now not only of knives,
psychopaths and innocent victims being slashed and
hacked, but come against a graphic backdrop which
depicts a feeding frenzy of denial.
The
corollary has been that Sinn Fein leaders must wince
each time they hear the name Robert McCartney. As
St Patrick's Day approaches the party is being reminded
of the potency of the issue. The McCartney women
are on their way to Washington. They will visit
the White House, Gerry Adams will not. And the party
leader has no space to finger point at the women
for meeting George Bush. His willingness to meet
the American leader on many occasions has fashioned
a rod for his own back as the McCartney women seek
to make use of the Bush presidency to apply pressure
to Sinn Fein.
Adams
concedes his party is on the back foot. Each time
he reaches into the hat for the much needed rabbit
he pulls only a rottweiler that without fail bites
him. Meanwhile, back in Ireland, the party seems
to be floundering. Martin McGuinness, lacking the
finesse of his boss, has found that when in a hole
keep digging. Today he warned the McCartney women
not to consider entering the electoral arena in
their search for justice. This can only have sinister
connotations given the experience of the 1980 hunger
striker, John Nixon, who a number of years ago was
told by colleagues of McGuinness that were he to
stand for election in Armagh city he would be left
without legs to stand on.
If
the justice campaign necessitates electoral intervention,
the McCartneys have the same rights as everyone
else. To think otherwise is to champion democracy
denied. The electorate, not political parties, own
the seats. It is unlikely that the family will be
influenced on the matter by anything Martin McGuinness
has to say. It is improbable that they shall allow
him to place barriers in the search for justice,
or find themselves acquiescing in the notion that
politics is a privileged space for the justice deniers.
A
refreshing feature of the justice campaign being
waged by the McCartney women is their strategic
acumen. They have yet to be outmanoeuvred by Sinn
Fein or its alter ego, the IRA. Martin McGuinness
is showing some signs of nerves as he contemplates
the possibility of an open democratic challenge
to his secret society brand of politics. Those in
Sinn Fein who wish to see a more egalitarian republicanism
could do worse than consider aligning with the women
as part of a wider democratic thrust against their
own leaders and the totalitarian ethos that they
promote. The alternative is to acquiesce in the
'cultic idiocy' that has so gripped the party and
sit idly by as the movement hate machine is cranked
up in anticipation of the inevitable demonising
of the sisters as soon as they set foot back on
Irish soil.
Post-Washington
the Sinn Fein gloves will be off. The McCartney
women will have to face that as part of the normal
political rough and tumble. But does the warning
from McGuinness mean that, more sinisterly, IRA
gloves will be on?
