SF leader condemns McCabe killing, but is silent about killers
THE widow of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe who was shot dead by the IRA 25 years ago this month, has told the Irish Mail on Sunday it is ‘not in Sinn Féin’s vocabulary to condemn the killers’ of her husband.
Ann McCabe said Sinn Féin has ‘never’ condemned the men who brutally gunned down her husband during the attempted robbery of a post office van in Adare, Co. Limerick, in 1996, and called on the country’s biggest opposition party to do so now.
She spoke out after Sinn Féin did not respond to a direct question asking if it condemned the detective’s killers.
The MoS asked if the party and leader Mary Lou McDonald condemned the killing and the killers of the 52-year-old detective.
‘I want them to condemn the killers of my husband’
We also asked if a possible future Sinn Féin justice minister would attend a commemoration for his killing.
In a statement, Ms McDonald answered the first and third questions, but did not say whether she condemned the detective’s killers. She said the killing of Det. McCabe was ‘unjustifiable and I condemn it unreservedly’ and the act was ‘reprehensible’. She said a Sinn Féin justice minister would attend any commemoration ‘in line with their responsibilities’.
‘Subject to the McCabe family’s wishes, any future Sinn Féin justice minister would of course attend any commemoration, in line with their responsibilities.’
Notably there was no condemnation of the four men convicted for his death in the statement.
Kevin Walsh, Patrickswell, Co. Limerick; Pearse McAuley, Strabane; Jeremiah Sheehy, Rathkeale, and Michael O’Neill, Patrickswell, served prison sentences after pleading guilty to Det. McCabe’s manslaughter while on trial for his murder in 1999.
A fifth man, John Quinn, of Faha, Patrickswell, was jailed for conspiracy to commit robbery. Two other gang members fled in 1996 and are believed to be on the run in Spain and South America.
An Ireland Thinks / Irish Mail On Sunday poll conducted yesterday revealed that the vast majority of people believe Sinn Féin should condemn the killers of Garda Jerry McCabe.
When asked, 80% of respondents said the party should condemn those behind the killing, 8% said it should not and 12% of those polled answered ‘Don’t Know’.
Earlier this month, Mrs McCabe attended an event to mark the 25th anniversary of her husband’s death.
At the commemoration outside Adare Garda Station, she told how ‘evil men’ took her husband’s life and seriously wounded his colleague Det. Garda Ben O’Sullivan.
Mrs McCabe told the MoS this week: ‘[Sinn Féin] have never condemned the killers of my husband. I don’t think those words come into their vocabulary.’ When Mrs McCabe was told Ms McDonald did condemn the killing, she asked, ‘But what about the killers? To condemn the killers is not in their vocabulary. They say, “Oh, it shouldn’t have happened,” but I want them to condemn the killers of my husband. And the two people who are on the run. There are people in Dáil Éireann who know who they are and where they are and why don’t they tell us?’ She said a former Sinn Féin leader has spoken around the issue. ‘It “shouldn’t have happened” – that was the quotation from Gerry Adams, but no condemnation.’
Asked if she would welcome a possible future Sinn Féin justice minister attending a commemoration of her husband’s death she said: ‘Absolutely not.’ Mrs McCabe sat next to Justice Minister Heather Humphreys at the commemoration. ‘I would not welcome them [a SF justice minister], absolutely not. Sinn Féin/IRA, that is what I call them,’ Mrs McCabe said.
Detectives McCabe and O’Sullivan, both Special Branch, were rammed and fired upon by a gang as they escorted a post office cash delivery van through Adare.
Mrs McCabe told the commemoration how the silence of the village ‘was shattered when evil and murder invaded the Main Street’ when, ‘just across the road, the sound of a hail of bullets, shot at point-blank range into two noble and upright and honest gardaí as they sat in the front seats of a patrol car. In those few seconds of evil and depravity my family and the lives of our five children changed forever.’
Det. O’Sullivan, who was struck 11 times, said at the ceremony he remains hopeful the two remaining gang members will be brought to justice. Garda Commissioner Drew Harris and Limerick Chief Superintendent Gerry Roche pledged to find the remaining suspects. Mr Harris said the force believes ‘people here in the locality or in Limerick may have information that could be of great assistance to us in locating those individuals’.
Tributes were paid to Det. McCabe from across the political parties, but there was marked silence from Sinn Féin. Fianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher wrote on Twitter: ‘Did anyone see any comments or statements from Sinn Féin yesterday remembering the 25th anniversary of Garda Jerry McCabe? The Q is: If SF were in govt, would they have attended the commemoration or is it only the Provisional IRA that should be remembered?’
Sinn Féin unsuccessfully sought to have the detective’s killers released early under the terms of the Belfast Agreement. Former Sinn Féin TD Martin Ferris was later pictured collecting two of the killers upon their release in 2009.
Mr Adams welcomed their release. He said: ‘The release of Kevin Walsh and Pearse McCauley comes at the end of their sentences, despite them being qualifying IRA prisoners under the Good Friday Agreement.’
‘In those few seconds my family’s life changed’