Victims’ families keep pressure on British Government

AS the Stormont talks intensified last week as British Prime Minister David Cameron and Taoiseach Enda Kenny were to arrive in Belfast for the inter-party talks, the families of people killed by state forces and their agents staged a protest outside the talks venue on Tuesday 9 December.

Among the groups represented were families of people killed by the British Army in the 1971 Ballymurphy Massacre and those killed in the McGurk’s pub bombing in 1971.

Raymond McCord and Paul McIlwaine, whose sons were killed by the unionist UVF, also took part in the protest, as well as families of people killed in a loyalist attack on Kelly’s Bar on Belfast’s Springfield Road in May 1972.

Relatives of those killed and injured in that attack have discovered that the same UVF team with links to loyalist informer Robert Campbell (the only person ever convicted in relation to the McGurk’s attack, in which 15 people were killed) was never investigated properly despite being linked to the bombing.

At the time, in a replica of what happened after the McGurk’s bar attack, then British Secretary of State William Whitelaw told the British parliament the bombing had been a result of an IRA ‘own goal’ (a premature explosion) despite it being clear the attack had been the work of the UVF.

Ciarán Mac Airt (author of The McGurk’s Bar Bombing: Collusion, Cover-Up and a Campaign for Truth, and whose grandmother Kitty Irvine was one of those killed) discovered that UVF members arrested on the night of the Kelly’s bar bombing were linked later to both attacks.

At issue for the families are the latest attempts by the British Government to block investigations into state killings by cutting resources to the Police Ombudsman’s Office and the inquest system.

John Teggert, whose father was one of 11 people killed by the British Army’s Parachute Regiment in Ballymurphy in 1971, accused the British Government of “choking the inquest system of resources to stop the truth coming out”.

Lies of the British state

Meanwhile, speaking at a human rights event organised by Relatives for Justice at Queen’s University Belfast on Wednesday 10 December, Sinn Féin MLA Martin McGuinness, deputy First Minister, said:

“In the Hasss/O’Sullivan talks, and indeed the recent negotiations, at all times Sinn Féin has sought to put the needs of all victims first.

“To my mind the blatant refusal from the British Government to take responsibility for its role in sustaining and perpetuating the conflict is insulting, shameful and disrespectful to families bereaved by the state.

“It is evident that here has been a sustained and co-ordinated strategy to cover up the state’s role in the conflict.  But the truth is being told.”

The decision by the Irish Government to petition Europe to reopen the case of the ‘Hooded Men’, tortured during internment in 1971, is another significant step forward, he said.

“The British Government fears the truth. [Secretary of State] Theresa Villiers fears ordinary people who stand up and be counted.

“It has been the brave stand for truth from families that has exposed the lies, deceit and propaganda of the British state.

“Sinn Féin remains politically focused on dealing with the past in a human rights compliant manner.

“This means any process to engage with legacy matters must be independent from all conflict actors – that includes the British Government.”

• Protesters make their way to the gates of Stormont House, the inter-party talks venue

• : Sinn Féin representatives join relatives protesting at Stormont over delays in holding inquests into the deaths of people killed by state forces

• John Teggart challenges a representative of the NIO’s Legacy Unit

• Sinn Féin MLA Pat Sheehan with Raymond McCord, who son was killed by the UVF and covered up by RUC Special Branch

• Sinn Féin MLA Caitríona Ruane with Paul McIlwaine, who son was killed by the UVF and covered up by Special Branch

• Mark Thompson of Relatives for Justice addresses the Queen’s University Belfast conference

• Martin McGuinness addresses the Relatives for Justice Queen’s University Belfast conference