Violence denied us a chance to scrutinise the marchers’ real agenda
Families Acting for Innocent Relatives and the Love Ulster tour had come to the capital and, as a republican, I support their constitutional right to assemble peaceably and without arms.
I had hoped that those protesting would do so as well. After all, they weren’t trying to parade through an estate to antagonise the residents. Alas, a substantial element was intent on trouble. FAIR’s reason for marching would not be looked at. Genuine voices of protest would not be heard.
Love Ulster is an anti-Agreement campaign that sought to lobby southern opinion by hiding behind the dead. The violence witnessed on the streets of Dublin allowed them to go unchallenged. FAIR’s Love Ulster tour is not about victims, or achieving closure for their relatives. The Love Ulster campaign wants to turn back the clock to the good old days, before civil rights, a time where the taigs knew their place and the B-Specials roamed wild and free. (www.loveulster.com).
FAIR’s attitude to nationalist victims of State and Loyalist violence is best understood by visiting their website www.victims.org.uk/patfinucane.html to read an attack on the character of murdered Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane, or www.victims.org.uk/racistrug.html to read an attack on Relatives for Justice.
According to FAIR, “In Northern Ireland 3,523 people lost their lives as a result of the troubles. Out of this number 2,054 have died directly as a result of actions perpetrated by the republican movement - the prime constituent being IRA/Sinn Fein - in their sectarian campaign against the pro-British people of Northern Ireland. Of these 2,054 people murdered, 279 were aged under 20, 183 were women, and a colossal 446 were Roman Catholics - a staggering total 47% higher than that killed by the Police and British Army put together (304). Overall, Republicans were responsible for two thirds of all terrorist killings during the troubles“.
FAIR also refers to those victims as “victims of Roman Catholic terrorism” with no mention of loyalist terrorists.
In contrast, Lost Lives, the book that chronicles the deaths of people killed in the Troubles from 1966 to 1999, gives a detailed account of all the victims.
The first recorded victims are Catholic civilians John Scullion and Peter Ward. The UVF member, Hugh McClean, who murdered them in the summer of 1966 said: “I am terribly sorry I ever heard tell of that man Paisley or decided to follow him.”
Between 1966 and 1999, the total number of people killed was 3,636. Of the civilians killed, 1,232 were Catholics and 698 were Protestants. The breakdown of combatants killed is as follows:
* RUC/UDR/RIR 509
* British Army 503
* Republican paramilitaries 392
* Loyalist paramilitaries 144
* Others 51
Republican paramilitaries were responsible for a total of 2,139 deaths. Of those killed, the IRA was responsible for 1,771, of which 198 were Catholic and 358 were Protestant civilians.
Pro-British forces were responsible for 1,497 deaths, of which 1,105 were civilians. Loyalist paramilitaries were responsible for 1,050 deaths, which account for the majority of Catholic and nearly half of Protestant civilians killed.
Horrendous atrocities were committed by all sides.
Since 1999 there has been a further 82 killings, the majority of which were carried out by Loyalists. The most recent was that of Thomas Devlin, aged 15. He was stabbed to death by Loyalists from the Mount Vernon estate in North Belfast on 8 August 2005. His parents had a “mixed marriage“.
Earlier this year, at the Bloody Sunday commemoration weekend in Derry, Alan McBride gave the annual Bloody Sunday Lecture, his wife and father-in law were killed by the IRA in the Shankill bombing.
He called for the establishment of a “truth recovery process”, the restoration of power sharing and the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement.
In conclusion he said “The best memorial we can have to those who died is to create a society where these things never happen again, a society where we as republicans and unionists can share what we have in common and build a better place for our children.”
Cathal Óg McCarthy
Weston Gardens
Rosbrien
Limerick
