‘Another slap in face for Kingsmill families’
Relatives slam former MP McElduff’s plan to stand for election to Omagh council
RELATIVES of those who died at Kingsmill voiced their anger last night at the decision by former Sinn Fein MP Barry McElduff to return to politics, branding it “a slap in the face for victims’ families”.
Colin Worton, whose brother Kenneth was murdered, said: “This shows Sinn Fein’s arrogance as a party as well and how they are taking us for fools.”
RELATIVES of those who died at Kingsmill have expressed their anger at the decision by former Sinn Fein MP Barry McElduff to return to politics, branding it “a slap in the face”.
Mr McElduff (52) was forced to quit as MP for West Tyrone earlier this year after footage appeared of him posing with a Kingsmill-branded loaf on his head on the anniversary of the Kingsmill massacre.
The IRA atrocity on January 5, 1976 saw gunmen stop a minibus carrying 11 Protestant workmen, line them up and shoot them. Only one victim survived.
Mr McElduff said at the time of his resignation that staying in his job would have impeded efforts to forge reconciliation, but that he was not aware the post coincided with the Kingsmill anniversary.
In October the Public Prosecution Service confirmed it would not be prosecuting Mr McElduff for the video. Eleven months on, he announced on Thursday night that he would be standing for Sinn Fein in council elections in the Fermanagh and Omagh District next May.
However Colin Worton, whose 24-year-old brother Kenneth was among the victims, yesterday described Mr McElduff as an “arrogant individual” and said his decision to return to the political scene so soon is “a slap in the face to the Kingsmill families”.
“McElduff was still in the fold of Sinn Fein and didn’t have to fall that far down the ladder to crawl back up again,” he said.
“He is still trying to justify his actions which is unbelievable and makes things even worse.
This shows Sinn Fein’s arrogance as a party as well and how they are taking us for fools. Why would somebody leave and then, within a matter of months, they are clawing their way back. You have to ask what was it all for? To give him more credibility?
“We are less than five weeks away now from the anniversary and I’m just totally sickened by the whole thing.” Alan Black, the
only survivor of the Kingsmill massacre despite having been shot 18 times, said: “To my mind he was dancing on the graves of the victims and seemed to be celebrating their deaths.
“If he had seen what I had seen that night that has lived with me ever since, he wouldn’t have done it.”
Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster’s Talkback yesterday, Mr
McElduff reiterated that the incident was a genuine mistake and that Kingsmill had been the only brand of bread available in the shop.
He told host William Crawley: “This might sound ridiculous but I didn’t make any association, even later between the product and the massacre.
“Even now I would say everyone associates the name of the
bread with the massacre, but I don’t believe prior to January that everybody would have made that association.
“I’m not asking anyone to believe me, but I’m just asserting the truth that this was coincidence. A very cruel, unintentional coincidence.
“When I realised that this association was being made by others, I did try my best in a very difficult situation to react with dignity and integrity.
“I accepted suspension and I even subsequently resigned as an MP, probably because I placed a greater value on other people’s feelings than I did on my own position,” he added.
Mr McElduff said he had been strongly encouraged by Sinn Fein party members and supporters and people within the community to re-enter public life.
However, DUP West Tyrone MLA Thomas Buchanan said he was not surprised by Mr McElduff ’s selection.
“The decision to ask Barry McElduff to stand for election does send a message to innocent victims about how little respect Sinn Fein has for them,” he said.
“But this is no surprise from the same party which named a playground after the man who was found in possession of the gun used to murder 10 innocent men.”
Ulster Unionist Omagh councillor Chris Smyth said he was appalled at Sinn Fein’s decision to select Mr McElduff given his previous conduct in public office.
“Sinn Fein know full well the impact that selecting him will have. I was ashamed when west Tyrone, the area I was born and raised in, was on every news outlet because our former MP acted like a clown and caused such dreadful offence,” he said.
“Sinn Fein have a large number of potential candidates they could have chosen from, so to choose Mr McElduff is a very deliberate act.
“It certainly nails the lie of Sinn Fein’s claims to be interested in ‘equality, respect and integrity’ or that they want to reach out to unionists.”