McGuinness died too young – but so did victims of IRA

MARTIN McGuinness died too young. It was clear that his political journey was not complete before his untimely death. We have watched him travel from proud advocate of ‘armed struggle’, including savage bombing campaigns, to charismatic, astute political leader. He was fiercely determined. Remember he ran a robust, no-holds-barred campaign against formidable candidates – Michael D Higgins, David Norris, Gay Mitchell, Mary Davis, Seán Gallagher and fellow Derry native Dana – when he stood for Áras an Uachtaráin in 2011.

This was hardly mentioned in the widespread eulogies to Martin this week. Indeed, some of the revision of history by many respected commentators was breathtaking.

The day after Martin McGuinness’s funeral brought Derry to a standstill, the family of Marie Comerford marked the eighth anniversary of the discovery of her body. Marie was the mother of Jonathan Ball, aged three, who was killed in an IRA bombing in Warrington, northwest England, on March 20, 1993, when he was out with his childminder buying a Mother’s Day card. Twelve-yearold Tim Parry died shortly afterwards in the same attack.

While Colin Parry, Tim’s father, has led an honourable campaign for peace and reconciliation, the effects of the death of their son destroyed Jonathan Ball’s parents. They split up immediately after their child’s death, and Marie became a recluse and suffered grievously from distress and grief. Her family told how she had refused to eat, and at her inquest the coroner determined that she had died on March 20 – the 16th anniversary of her child’s murder – ‘of a broken heart because of the death of her son’.

It was another example of the devastating, long-term, indiscriminate effects of violence.

I am currently researching a book on the children who died in the Northern Ireland Troubles between 1968 and 1998. The initial figures are horrifying. Of the 3,270 people killed, 55% were civilians – and 144 of them were aged 16 and under.

The biggest single group of child deaths – 60% – were as a result of the actions of the republican paramilitaries. Security forces were directly involved in 10% of child fatalities. These are deeply uncomfortable truths.

Martin McGuinness was unequivocal in recent years in condemning the violent actions of so-called dissident republic groups, including the murder of a young PSNI officer and a prison guard.

It is not beyond belief that his journey, if he had lived longer, would have led him to reflect on the horrific death toll during the Troubles, and would have prompted him to ask himself whether the peaceful political path that other Derry natives such as John Hume and Mark Durkan took was a better option. This is now an option open to others who supported the ‘armed struggle’.

Yesterday was the 24th anniversary of the death of 12-year-old Tim Parry, who was killed by the same bomb that claimed the life of Jonathan Ball five days previously. They, too, died too young.