Threat to McCartneys - Hypocrisy of Sinn Féin staggering

WHO does Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams think he’s codding?

In what can only be described as a desperate exercise in face-saving, he is literally standing logic on its head by denying that republicans were behind threats to burn out the family of murdered Belfast man Robert McCartney.

Although he condemns those involved in this menacing form of intimidation, there is not a shred of logic in the Adams line that despite what the McCartney family might think, republicans were not involved in making the threats to burn them out. The hypocrisy of Sinn Féin is breathtaking.

Doubtless, the McCartney sisters know the identity of the IRA members of the gang who stabbed their brother to death outside a Belfast bar in January.

Ever since that fatal day, they have waged a tireless and courageous campaign for justice. And ever since they have been the targets of a whispering campaign, not to mention direct threats from the bully-boy faction of violent republicanism.

Significantly, the PSNI warning of an arson threat by “criminal elements” comes days after the family had won the unprecedented backing of the European Parliament to allocate funding for a civil action to be taken by the family if the PSNI is unable to proceed with a criminal prosecution.

As the Taoiseach said when he welcomed the parliament’s vote, it was an indication of the international attention and concern about this case. Yet, the hypocrisy of Sinn Féin was plain for all to see during the EU debate when the party’s two MEPs voted against the money coming from the EU Commission’s anti-terrorist budget. Their argument was that his killing was not politically motivated.

There can be no shadow of doubt, however, why the killers, who are known to the dogs on the streets of Belfast, performed their dastardly deed. Tragically, Robert McCartney had the courage to stand up and be counted when he intervened on behalf of a friend in a pub row.

Undoubtedly, he was murdered by paramilitary thugs for the same reason that punishment beatings, knee-cappings, and other killings are being carried out by so-called republicans. Their fundamental objective is to maintain a sinister grip of fear over the community. What could be more political than that?

One can only admire the courage, tenacity and defiance of the McCartney sisters who insist the family is determined to continue fighting for justice for their brother despite the latest ominous development.

Who else but republicans would take such a cold-blooded step to put a decent, law-abiding family in danger? Petty criminals and burglars - nonsense.

The threat came directly from those who rely on psychological intimidation to deal with any challenge against their power-base at grassroots level.

So skilled has Sinn Féin become at distorting the truth, it would not be surprising if Sinn Féin’s well-oiled public relations machine were to claim that the threats to burn out the McCartney family were the work of loyalists or the security forces, people out to discredit the party.

The public should not forget that in Sinn Féin’s myopic vision of the landscape, no matter how many people are beaten up and regardless of how many banks are robbed, republicans are somehow incapable of committing crime.

The latest incident of intimidation of the family of Robert McCartney is a most sinister development. Those who pursue such tactics make a mockery of the Irish Republic, where political power is held by the people and vested in democratically elected representatives - not by killers in a shadowy private army.