Allister speaks in McCartney debate
09 May 2005
Today, Jim Allister made the following speech in the European Parliament
James Hugh Allister (NI). – Mr President, right at the outset I salute the superb courage of the McCartney family. Intimidation and the capacity to impose its will through fear has always been as vital a weapon to the IRA as its guns and its bombs. In exposing and standing up to the thuggery of Sinn Féin/IRA, the McCartney sisters have shown remarkable bravery.
This was a foul murder. By a hand-signal indicating a knife should be used, a member of the IRA’s northern command gave the order to kill, and a key Sinn Féin member savagely wielded the knife and butchered this innocent man before multiple witnesses. An IRA unit, led by the volunteer who had fetched and then disposed of the knife, then coordinated a clean-up operation to destroy forensic and real evidence, including the CCTV footage. Then, in classic IRA style, the intimidation brigade swung into action to silence the witnesses. Though the IRA and Sinn Féin claim to have expelled or suspended up to ten members linked to this murder, their duplicity and double-dealing is amply illustrated by the fact that, three months after this murder, this cut-throat psychopath remained publicly proclaimed as one of Sinn Féin’s official treasurers. And the man who ordered the killing still struts the streets of Belfast in the company of the IRA’s chief of intelligence, Bobby Storey, and leading provisional IRA man, Eddy Copeland. So much for the IRA’s supposed disciplinary action: it is a farce.
We are due to hear in this debate from one of Sinn Féin/IRA’s representatives in this House. She and her partners are in a position to help this family by influencing Sinn Féin members, like Bob Fitzsimmons and Joe Fitzpatrick, and other people like Terry Davison, truthfully to tell the lawful authorities what they know of the horrific events in the alleyway. I challenge her to do so, but instead I fear we will hear the usual Sinn Féin empty, pious, weasel words that reek of insincerity, with hypocrisy dripping from every syllable. Sinn Féin/IRA could secure justice for the McCartney family but their priority is to protect their own. Hence the IRA-enforced wall of silence. Punitive and deterrent justice through the criminal courts is much the best option. If Sinn Féin/IRA succeed in denying criminal justice to this family, then I endorse the call that the EU should help fund an action so that the killers and conspirators can be pursued at least through the civil courts. But, given that the IRA has benefited to the tune of EUR 40 million from its Northern Bank robbery, it would be an odious scandal if state legal aid were available to anyone to defend such proceedings. Finally, I would add that the EU fund should also be available to the many other victims of the IRA, who for years have been denied justice because of this same intimidation.
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