McCartney family urged to back off by McGuinness

SINN FÉIN last night gave the first sign of irritation with the campaign to find justice for Robert McCartney when Martin McGuinness bluntly warned the family to back off.

The party's chief negotiator claimed the campaign by the McCartney sisters to find justice for their brother could be open to manipulation by Sinn Féin's political opponents and the PSNI.

Over the past number of weeks, Sinn Féin has consistently said it fully supports the five sisters and Mr McCartney's fiancee in their campaign.

However, in recent days one of Mr McCartney's sisters said she may stand for election against Sinn Féin. In the past few days, the campaign has also been highly critical of Sinn Féin over what they say shows clear evidence of a cover-up.

That has been brought into sharp focus by the revelations at the weekend that two female Sinn Féin election candidates were in Magennis's Bar on the night of the murder and had only belatedly come forward to make statements to solicitors.

The sisters had pointed out that one of the candidates, Cora Groogan, who stood for Sinn Féin in the Assembly elections, seemed to have changed her account. They also questioned why both had made statements to their solicitors without going directly to the Police Ombudsman.

Signalling growing irritation at the impact of the campaign, Mr McGuinness said: "The McCartneys need to be very careful."

"To step over that line, which is a very important line, into the world of party political politics, can do a huge disservice to their campaign.

"In fact, it can dismay and disillusion an awful lot of people, tens of thousands of people who support them in their just demands."

The Irish Examiner has learned that the McCartney sisters and Robert's partner Bridgeen will be afforded a high-profile reception in the White House. As well as meeting US President George W Bush, meetings have also been arranged with senators Hillary Clinton and Ted Kennedy.

Senator Kennedy confirmed at the weekend that he would not meet Gerry Adams, because of Sinn Féin's links with criminality.

Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern last night challenged Sinn Féin to face facts in relation to the crisis it currently faces. Central to that was the need for the IRA "to wither away".

"The reality is that it is in a crisis of its own making. To try to blame others to claim that this comes out of partisan political rivalry is simply nonsense," said Mr Ahern, speaking at Harvard University in Boston.

"The main onus at the moment is on the Provisional movement. If it wants to start to rebuild trust it must take the first bold steps.

"Those in the Provisional movement who wish to be part of the inclusive institutions must make the difficult decisions necessary to bring all forms of paramilitary and criminal activity to a definitive end," he said.