IMC accuses republicans of Quinn murder
The ceasefire watchdog, the Independent Monitoring Commission, said he was battered to death by IRA members — past or present — or their associates. However, the commission said it was too early to say if the killing of the south Armagh man was authorised by the IRA leadership.
The accusation came despite Sinn Féin insisting no republican was involved and led to fresh questions about the Rev Ian Paisley’s decision to go into government with Sinn Féin.
Mr Quinn, aged 21, from Cullyhanna, died after being mercilessly beaten having being lured to a farm shed at Tullycoora, Drumacrib, near the Co Monaghan village of Oram.
The IMC’s John Grieve said: “Despite the fact that we are saying it is a local dispute, we do believe that those who were involved in the attack on him — in his brutal murder — included people who are members or former members or have associations with members or former members of the Provisional IRA.”
SDLP Assembly member for Newry and Armagh Dominic Bradley said the IMC findings were soundly based on intelligence from police on both sides of the border, and were exactly what the Quinn family had claimed. Hitting out at Sinn Féin, Mr Bradley said: “In order to peddle their fairy story that no Provos were involved, the Sinn Féin spin machine tried to blacken the name of the victim, link him to criminality by suggesting that he died in a dispute between crime gangs.”
He said it was perhaps understandable Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness should seek to protect their working relationship with Ian Paisley and the DUP.
But he said: “It should not be at the cost of truth and justice and further distress to the Quinn family.”
Mr Bradley added: “Paul Quinn was not murdered by dissidents or smugglers or people opposed to the political process. He was battered to death by Provos because he wouldn’t kow-tow to local gang bosses. Local people know that, the gardaí know that and clearly the IMC know that. The murder was pre-planned, organised and co-ordinated using an existing network and its experienced personnel.”
It was notable, he said, that local Sinn Féin representatives on the ground were no longer trying to peddle the fairy story.
Sinn Féin MP Connor Murphy dismissed Mr Grieve’s accusation as utterly devoid of fact.
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