Funeral outrage reveals hidden hypocrisies

CROWDS drinking and mingling in Temple Bar. Bad. Black Lives Matter protests. Bad. House parties. Bad. A funeral for a former Sinn Féin politician. Really, really bad. And when the leader of the opposition makes it her business to attend and is pictured embracing fellow mourners, well that just seals it; everyone involved in Bobby Storey’s funeral, from the priest, to the lads playing the bagpipes, to Gerry Adams, especially Gerry Adams, should be before the courts, asked why they’re so intent on provoking a second surge of the coronavirus and then preferably told to self-isolate up in the North for 14 years.

Because it was reckless of them wasn’t it? Reckless and feckless. These supposed figures of authority acted with all the nonchalance of those revellers in Dublin, they thumbed their noses up at convention and, in the process, caused great upset to the hundreds of people who have had to bury loved ones from afar.

And who knows what Mary Lou and the lads did when the cameras were off them, maybe they all piled back to Gerry’s, 70 of them in the house; skulling cans, tunes blaring out the window, just daring the police to come and break things up.

A couple of weeks ago another funeral was held on the island of Ireland, one for a man who was taken much too soon, killed in the line of duty, leaving a young family behind and the entire nation united in sympathy.

Det Garda Colm Horkan, who was shot and killed in Roscommon last month, ‘epitomised’ what members of the force should be, and had ‘all the values you associate with a good and decent human being’.

His was a funeral befitting such a man, a solemn affair where fellow Gardaí lined the streets and scores of mourners quietly trailed the 49 year-old’s coffin.

Indeed, if you take out the two men wearing kilts at the front, the images from that day in County Mayo are strikingly similar to those from Bobby Storey’s funeral.

But the reactions couldn’t have been more different. The degree of condemnation levelled against all those at the latter, and in particular the Sinn Féin politicians, contrasts starkly with the wall of silence in response to Mr Horkan’s funeral.

I’m aware of how sensitive an issue this is; judging anyone on how they mark the passing of a loved one is not something I do lightly. Furthermore, no blame can be placed on the doorstep of Mr Storey’s family members nor those of Det Garda Colm Horkan.

Indeed, I would go as far as to absolve all those attending the respective funerals, regardless of their profile, from any blame; I have lost a loved one during the pandemic and I’m aware of easy it is to abandon those rules and regulations in the face of grief and loss.

No, the real issue here is public perception and the double standards being preached by certain sections of the media.

We are constantly being reminded that this virus does not discriminate, that it takes the young and the old, the male and the female, the Catholics and the Protestants, without bias.

However, in the case of Bobby Storey and Det Garda Horkan it would appear that one was more worthy of a large sendoff than the other; that the procession which accompanied the slain garda was one worthy of a hero, the one organised for Mr Storey a glorification of his time with the IRA.

Let us hope the coronavirus received the memo and scheduled its attendance accordingly.

And these are just two of many examples. I know I’ve seen social distancing rules openly flouted at the funerals of people regarded as prominent members of their community, in much the same way as I’ve seen Traveller families gather en masse to pay their respects following the loss of a loved one.

Yet invariably it is only the Traveller funeral which receives censure, the bad funeral which we choose to be offended by. We would never dream of complaining about the funeral of a local GAA figurehead, that of a former councillor, a much-loved committee member of a community group, or anyone embedded in local life.

Because those people were heroes, they deserved a good send-off. And to say otherwise is just downright disrespectful.