On Sunday 18th April, the day after the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral,Uachtarán Sinn Féin, Mary Lou McDonald was being interviewed on Times Radio when she apologised for the death of Lord Louis Mountbatten at Mullaghmore in County Sligo. Lord Mountbatten was killed in an IRA bomb attack on his boat ‘Shadow V’. The party of seven aboard the Shadow V included Mountbatten, his daughter Patricia, her husband, Lord John Brabourne, their 14-year-old twins, Timothy and Nicholas, and Lord Brabourne’s mother, the dowager Lady Doreen Brabourne. Paul Maxwell, 15, a friend of the family who worked on the boat, was also on board. Mountbatten, Nicholas Brabourne and Paul Maxwell were killed immediately. Lady Brabourne died the next day. The rest survived serious injuries.
The fact Mary Lou dared to apologise for the IRA killing someone, including children on the boat that day, was really no great divergence from the Sinn Fein position. That being, any death attributed to the Troubles was regrettable.
I’ve been advised by a few people over the past day or two that the war isn’t over until we have a 32 County Irish Republic. Fair enough, they’re entitled to their opinion. So what was the Good Friday Agreement? A declaration of war? No, the Good Friday Agreement was a declaration of peace, an internationally recognised and ratified legal document which helped to bring to an end a period of conflict in the North, that being the Troubles. It takes courage, as a Republican in the current political climate, to publicly apologise for the killing of the British monarch’s second cousin. However, you’ll notice Mary Lou McDonald didn’t apologise for the second bomb attack that day: the ambush at Narrow Water which blew up a convoy of Paras, killing 18 and injuring 20.
Reconciliation is an integral part of the peace process, it has to be and if it isn’t, it should be. However, just as events such as the late Martin McGuinness meeting Queen Elizabeth II and Gerry Adams shaking Prince Charles’ hand met with, ironically, consternation from Unionists and Loyalists alike, so too has the apology from Mary Lou McDonald for the killing of Louis Mountbatten. We all knew Unionism would ‘take a mile’ if ‘given an inch’, and that scenario materialised when Gregory Campbell immediately grabbed Mary Lou McDonald’s apology, and ran with it as fast and as far as he possibly could. Gregory responded to Mary Lou’s apology with – “An apology is one thing, we now need to see condemnation and justice for all the murders that took place that day”. Apparently, Unionism doesn’t know the meaning of the term ‘baby steps’. It is worth pointing out, that while Mary Lou McDonald apologised for the killing of Mountbatten, Loyalist paramilitaries are still armed, still recruiting and still being plied with millions of pounds to transition.
Reconciliation, as well all know is a two-way street and while Mary Lou apologised, I won’t hold my breath for an apology from Unionism or the British Government for…well, anything, though I’m happy to be proven wrong. What we do need to see is a reciprocal act from Unionism and the British Government. That, however, would require the unlocking of secret British state files held by MI5 and the PSNI…if they haven’t been destroyed in another unfortunate, yet timely fire. Something tells me, if there were a move to apologise for anything, political Unionism would not be the apologist.
Note however, our Greg wants Sinn Fein to apologise for any and all actions the IRA carried out throughout the Troubles, completely it seems, dismissing all wrong-doing by Loyalist paramilitaries and British Government throughout the Troubles – something Sinn Fein will need to be careful of.
Unionism still views collusion between Loyalist paramilitaries and the British security infrastructure as a legitimate means to defeating violent Republicanism even thought this collusion killed more innocent Catholics and indeed Protestants than combatants. Those British agents run by the likes of the FRU, MI5 and Special Branch using a willing Loyalism, killed many within their own communities, were permitted to carry on with their murderous ways by their handlers and influenced operations towards a predominantly innocent population. An apology on anything would be a welcome start to the truth coming to light on many murders carried out under the veil masking collusion between Loyalist paramilitaries and the British state.
In the end, the smallest gesture can go a long way, especially in the eyes of a victim.
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