One year on from Quinn murder
21 October 2008
“One year ago today an IRA gang brutally bludgeoned a young man to death in the most horrific manner. Had this happened during the UUP’s leadership of Unionism the outcry from DUP representatives for immediate action against Sinn Fein/IRA would have been deafening. Yet today they are mute. Why? Because the Democratic Unionists have bought into the so-called “peace process” where a blind eye has been tuned to murder for years.
“Shamefully the Independent Monitoring Commission allowed itself to become a tool in the political process when in May they issued a report which amounted to a total whitewash. However, even they conceded that: “Amongst those involved were people who had in various ways been associated with the PIRA at a local level, including as members of the organisation.” This was a flat contradiction of Cornor Murphy’s claim that rumours of “any republican involvement” amounted to “wild and baseless allegations”. But the appeasement process carried on regardless.
“Ignoring murder is in stark contrast to the DUP behaviour in the past. On Friday 4th May 2001 Patrick Daly, a Roman Catholic father-of-four from south Belfast, was murdered. On Tuesday 8th May 2001 Peter Robinson blamed the IRA for the murder on the floor of the Assembly and said it made Sinn Fein’s continued presence in government untenable. Today that same Mr Robinson sits alongside Martin McGuinness as joint First Minister while Paul Quinn is forgotten about.
“The murder of Paul Quinn tells us many things about the new Northern Ireland and, indeed, about the new DUP who now overlook killings which they find politically inconvenient."
Released Monday 20th October
