Never forget Sinn Fein’s bloody legacy

THE balaclavas may have been stored away and the Armalites decommissioned, but the bloody legacy of the IRA lives on.

For many hundreds of families who lost loved ones at the hands of that pitiless band of murderers, the memory remains an incurable sore.

Meanwhile, on housing estates from Londonderry to West Belfast, the heirs to these paramilitary thugs continue to mete out ‘punishment’ shootings and beatings to anyone who crosses them.

And cheering on the men of violence all the way has been Sinn Fein, the IRA’s socalled political wing. How chilling, then, that yesterday this most sinister of parties, already a major force in the devolved Stormont assembly, massively extended its influence across the whole of Ireland by securing the largest vote share in the Republic’s general election. Anyone who cherishes democracy and repudiates cold-blooded killing should be appalled. So how did it happen?

True, there are strong Republican sympathies south of the border.

But this was far more a protest against the ineptitude of the traditional ruling parties and Fine Gael especially, than any dewey-eyed call for Irish reunification (though Sinn Fein is already demanding a border referendum).

Perhaps if soon-to-be ex-Premier Leo Varadkar had spent less time lecturing Britain over Brexit, and more fixing his own country’s huge social problems – crumbling health system, chronic housing shortage, record homelessness – Sinn Fein could have been kept at bay.

Instead it’s firmly on the march, with who knows what consequences. This is a party that, throughout its existence, has been an advocate for violence and chaos. That is what it thrives on. Ireland, be warned.