Quinns: Murphy must say our son wasn’t a criminal
THE family of murder victim Paul Quinn has rejected Mary Lou McDonald’s invite to have a sit-down meeting.
The Sinn Féin leader called Paul’s mother Breege Quinn yesterday and suggested that they ‘sit around a table’ and talk after the family’s criticism of Northern Ireland Finance Minister Conor Murphy.
Mr Murphy has apologised for comments he made 13 years ago in which he falsely suggested Paul Quinn was killed in a criminal dispute.
‘She apologised to me. I thanked her for that but I said we wouldn’t be meeting with her until Conor Murphy came out and said that my son is not a criminal,’ Ms Quinn told the Irish Daily Mail last night.
She made her comments after Ms McDonald phoned her at 6.30pm last night, as the controversy continued to dog Sinn Féin’s election campaign.
Mr Murphy apologised on Wednesday for comments made 13 years ago in the wake of Paul Quinn’s murder when he branded the South Armagh man a smuggler and criminal.
The brutal killing, and Sinn Féin’s response to it, has become a major issue in the General Election campaign, with rivals claiming it is proof of the party’s continued defence of IRA violence.
Mr Murphy’s apology represented a dramatic change in position, as prior to that he had denied ever making the comments about Mr Quinn.
Mr Quinn, a 21-year-old from Cullyhanna in south Armagh, was
‘It doesn’t come any more difficult’
beaten to death by a gang of around a dozen men in a farm shed across the border near Castleblayney, Co. Monaghan.
His family blame members of the IRA, but Sinn Féin has long denied republican involvement.
A month after the murder, Mr Murphy, a Sinn Féin representative for Newry and Armagh, claimed Mr Quinn was involved in ‘smuggling and criminality’.
However, Ms McDonald has insisted Mr Murphy will be staying in post.
When asked whether she had found the last few days of the campaign hard, amid the ongoing controversy, Ms McDonald said her priority was the Quinn family.
‘Any time you’re asked to deal with something that involved trauma or loss for any family, of course it’s hard, I’m a human being and I’m also a mother,’ she said.
‘It doesn’t come any more difficult than a mother who has lost her child in such a brutal way.’
In an interview on the Opinion Line on Cork’s 96FM, Fianna Fáil leader
Micheál Martin said Sinn Féin needs to change how it handles decisionmaking. He said: ‘The point is there are people who are not elected [who] dictate and organise what happens within Sinn Féin. The problem with Sinn Féin – and there are many good members, don’t get me wrong – is that the elected representatives within Sinn Féin don’t have the overarching decision-making in terms of policy.
‘They are told what to do... and they need to change that in my view,’ he added.
Fianna Fáil candidate Jim
O’Callaghan yesterday called on Mr Murphy to resign over his controversial claims.
Speaking in Dublin, Mr O’Callaghan, the party’s justice spokesperson, said: ‘Yes, I think Conor Murphy should resign.
‘If his apology was genuine he would have issued it to the Quinn family 13 years ago.
‘His apology was designed to protect and promote the interests of Sinn Féin in the run-up to the General Election.
‘What it reveals is that whenever there is a conflict between the chance of... people seeking justice on the one hand, or the people in the Provisional IRA or... involved in crime on the other hand, Sinn Fein always opts for the latter.’
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