Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Sinn Fein can’t break links to a bloody past
SINN Fein’s John Finucane being billed as the main speaker for an upcoming IRA commemoration has prompted criticism and raised questions for the MP.
As the son of solicitor Pat Finucane, who was murdered by loyalist gunmen in 1989, he is painfully aware of the trauma for families of victims of the Troubles.
Mr Finucane was just eight years old when his father was shot dead as the family sat down for Sunday dinner at their North Belfast home.
His personal experience makes it all the more confusing for some why the MP is scheduled to take part in a “South Armagh Volunteers Commemoration” on June 11.
Victims’ campaigner Kenny Donaldson said: “If an event was held commemorating those gunmen who carried out the assassination of John Finucane’s father, then he would be up in arms – and rightly so.
“How then is it acceptable for him to associate with an event remembering members of the Provisional IRA, who murdered their own neighbours?”
For some victims, Sinn Feinbranded posters advertising the commemoration also raise fresh concerns that the IRA’S violent campaign which cost many innocent lives is being sanitised as time passes.
The posters, which include an image of Mr Finucane and describe him as the “main speaker”, say the event will involve “music, refreshments and kids’ entertainment”.
Arlene Foster, who was also eight when she witnessed the IRA attempt to murder her father, said Sinn Fein was making the commemoration “sound like a fun day out for all the family”.
The former DUP leader and First Minister, who also survived an IRA bomb attack on a part-time Ulster Defence Regiment soldier who was driving her school bus, accused Mr Finucane of “glorifying terrorists”.
Mr Finucane has yet to respond, but Sinn Fein would only say that “everyone has the right to remember their dead with dignity and respect”.
The controversy has also for some raised questions over a legal action being brought by Mr Finucane against a DUP councillor.
Marc Collins is being sued for libel by Mr Finucane for tweeting in 2019 he “supports and promotes the IRA”.
The Mid and East
Antrim councillor was suspended from his role by a standards watchdog which found a number of tweets had contributed to a “toxic atmosphere” during a Westminster election campaign.
The libel case will raise further concerns that legitimate public scrutiny and political debate is being stifled by Sinn Fein resorting to legal action. Last year the National Union of Journalists warned legal action by Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou Mcdonald against RTE could have a “chilling impact on press freedom”.
The case relates to a programme which referenced the party’s treatment of former Irish senator Mairia Cahill, who has said she was sexually abused by an IRA man.
Campaign group Index on Censorship has also warned legal action by a Sinn Fein MLA against two journalists bears the hallmarks of a “SLAPP” – “strategic lawsuit against public participation”.
Gerry Kelly’s case relates to comments about the former IRA man’s role in the 1983 Maze Prison escape.
The legal action has been listed on the Council of Europe’s Safety of Journalists Platform – established to promote press freedom – as a “Level Two” threat under the category “harassment and intimidation of journalists”.
Sinn Fein has shown no interest in changing its perspective on the IRA. Criticism of Sinn Fein deputy leader Michelle O’neill’s remarks last year claiming there was “no alternative” to IRA violence during the Troubles has been shrugged off.
In recent elections the party has had success in reaching beyond its traditional working-class republican grassroots, with Mr Finucane the poster boy of attempts to broaden their appeal.
But his involvement in this republican commemoration could risk undermining Sinn Fein’s carefully cultivated message to voters of “working for all”.
Mr Finucane is painfully aware of the trauma of victims’ families