Fine Gael TD suggests victims murdered by loyalists 'a result of your own actions'

FINE GAEL TD Regina Doherty has shockingly suggested that the actions of Sinn Féin were responsible for the massacre of three people by an RUC officer in 1992 – as well as the abduction and murder of a teenager by a unionist gang in Belfast in 1974.

The Meath East TD, who is under pressure to hold on to her seat from Sinn Féin candidate Darren O'Rourke, made the disturbing comments during a debate with Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD on LMFM on Monday.

Explaining his involvement in legacy issues and speaking to those who lost somebody during the recent conflict in the North, Gerry Adams told presenter Michael Reade:

“When I talk about people who have been bereaved or who are grieving, it isn't an academic exercise,” he said. 

“Two members of my family were killed, one by unionist paramilitaries and the other by the British Army. My sister was six months pregnant when her husband was killed in Ballymurphy by the Parachute Regiment. My brother was seriously shot; I have been shot. 

“My family home has been bombed, my office has been bombed, my constituency office in west Belfast – three people in the waiting room were killed,” said Gerry Adams.

Regina Doherty snapped back accusingly: 

“All brought on by your own actions, Gerry.”

The comment was in reference to the a 1992 gun attack on the Sinn Féin office in Belfast when an RUC officer, Allen Moore, entered the building and opened fire with a pump-action shotgun, killing constituency workers Pat McBride (40) and Paddy Loughran (61) along with Michael O'Dwyer (21), who had called to the office with his two-year-old son to seek advice on a local constituency issue.

Two other people, Pat Wilson and Norah Larkin, were wounded.

The relatives Gerry Adams spoke of were his 17-year-old cousin, Kieran Murphy, who was abducted by the Ulster Volunteer Force on 12 October 1974 and bundled into a car. 

He was beaten, shot six times and his body dumped in a lane on the outskirts of Belfast.

Gerry Adams's brother-in-law, Patrick Mulvenna (22), an IRA Volunteer, was killed the year previously in an ambush by British soldiers.

Gerry Adams said Regina Doherty's comments were “awful and in keeping” with the attitude of her party leader Enda Kenny and Fine Gael in blaming those who have suffered.