I am wary of adding information to a controversial case as it might upset someone. I speak from experience.
When the shocking death of Patsy Gillespie was under discussion, I noted that his death at the hands of the IRA was probably linked to the fact that he was working in a British army base, since the IRA had warned that anyone doing such work would be considered a legitimate target. My mention of this fact evoked considerable fury, to the point where the leader of a victims’ group in Fermanagh met with BBC management and urged them never again to use me as a commentator on Raidio Uladh/Radio Ulster. The BBC management immediately did as instructed.
So as I say I’m hesitant to add information to the current case being supported by the political opponents of Sinn Fein: that of Paul Quinn. As I said in an earlier blog, Paul Quinn like Patsy Gillespie met a truly savage death. He was beaten lifeless by a gang of men. Quinn’s mother, as you probably know, is supported by several political parties north and south, and is demanding that Finance Minister Conor Murphy declare that her son was not a criminal and that he report to the gardai and the PSNI the identity of the IRA people he spoke to, who assured him that they were not responsible for Paul Quinn’s death.
In that earlier blog, I noted the fact that Bertie Ahern, Taoiseach at the time of Paul Quinn’s murder, declared that his reports from the gardaí and from the PSNI said that paramilitaries were not involved and that the killing had been part of a drug gang feud. Later he rowed back on this statement and said that he had no evidence that Paul Quinn was a criminal/. I don’t think I’ve read any commentator who has included this information in their commentary on the Quinn case. And I’m not sure why.
The other point I would add to the Quinn case relates to his mother’s demand that Conor Murphy go to the gardai and the PSNI with the identity of the IRA people he said he spoke to. These were IRA men, he knew they were IRA men, so he has a duty to report them to the authorities.
Which raises the question, do the PSNI and the gardai not know about these IRA people?
But let’s assume they don’t. Should Conor Murphy go to the gardai and PSNI and reveal their names?
While you’re mulling that over, let me refer you to my interview with Denis Bradley in my book Martin McGuinness: the Man I Knew.
In the course of the interview,, Denis Bradley speaks about his early days as a young priest in the 1970s Bogside He speaks of giving a lift to Martin McGuinness and several lads who were in his youth club:
“I [also] got to know the boys in the IRA very well. I think most of the young boys I knew were either in the IRA or expecting to join the IRA because the flood into the IRA at that time was enormous. Absolutely enormous.
I remember a British Catholic chaplain once asking me why didn’t I report these boys to the authorities. I think that’s a pathetic question – ‘Why did you not report them to the police?’ It shows a real British mentality. My answer was to throw him out of the house.”
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