[Mb-civic] Guardian Unlimited: Murder victim's sisters return to more hostile climate in Belfast

[harry.sifton at sympatico.ca]

HS spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it.

-------
Note from HS:

IRA intimidation machine a work again. The IRA is above all laws. They are now criminals/gangsters using politics as their sheild!
-------

To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk

Murder victim's sisters return to more hostile climate in Belfast
The McCartney family's trip to the US is part of a wider plot to harm Sinn Féin, some republicans allege
Angelique Chrisafis, Ireland correspondent
Saturday March 19 2005
The Guardian


On the radio phone-ins, the barometer of Northern Ireland's bottomless pit of moral outrage, some republican voices have raged about the plot to destroy their movement.  

The McCartney sisters were making "a complete political issue" of their brother's killing by IRA members, one said.  

American Teresa McShane was affronted, having not had a shred of help from her own government since her husband was crushed to death by an army personnel carrier in Derry nine years ago. She too was convinced the McCartneys were "being used" as a part of an anti-republican crusade.  

The Belfast to which the sisters and fiancee of Robert McCartney are returning this weekend is a more hostile place than the one they left. Despite the hundreds of interviews in Washington and an audience with the president, they are no closer to justice. Their brother's killers are still   free to saunter to the bookies near their home.  

But the fight the family faces has got tougher. Republican gloves have come off. Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams have publicly suggested that a political machine is manipulating the sisters to damage Sinn Féin.  

The feeling that republicans are being victimised echoes the fury of one woman in the tea-room at Sinn Féin's party conference two weeks ago, who complained: "My husband was murdered by loyalists. Why should these women get more publicity than anyone else?"  

The family has long complained of a whispering campaign against it. But Sinn Féin's line now that political enemies are exploiting the McCartneys seems meant to plant a seed of doubt in the minds of a wider nationalist community pained and confused by the murder and its implications.  

When Mr McGuinness gives you a piece of friendly advice, and you live in a republican area of Belfast, it's a good idea to listen. His "well-intentioned" words to the McCartney sisters this week to keep their noses out of party politics was interpreted as a threat. He denied this. But many saw it as a bid to stop them running as highly embarrassing independents in May's elections. Catherine McCartney has since decided not to stand. Paula McCartney may still run for a council seat.  

Mr McGuinness claimed the sisters were being secretly advised by a Svengali figure who was against the Good Friday agreement - Anthony McIntyre, an ex-IRA prisoner and a prominent republican critic of Sinn Féin.  

Mr McIntyre, who served 18 years in the Maze, contributes to the Blanket, one of the most read political websites in Northern Ireland. He dismissed claims that he had called himself an adviser to the McCartneys. He interviewed the sisters forthe website soon after the murder, and attended the vigil and funeral. But he had not advised them, he said, nor did they need advice.  

The McCartneys laugh off the suggestion that Mr McIntyre or anyone else is pulling their strings. Catherine McCartney is a politics lecturer who trains women to become community activists. She finds it strange that anyone doubts her ability to run a campaign.  

Belfast was still a macho and sexist place, she said. "Just because we are women, people underestimate us, hoping to find someone behind us."  

The McCartney sisters have no PR people or fixers, something which shocked and frustrated Washington politicians and the media when they arrived in the US. They write their own statements on A4 pads in their kitchen, surrounded by their children and cups of tea.  

As republicans and Sinn Féin voters themselves, they made a point of appearing with Mr Adams and Mr McGuinness at Sinn Féin's conference earlier this month.  

But the sisters' growing frustration with the party was becoming clear even as they left for Washington. When it emerged that three Sinn Féin election candidates were in Magennis's bar on the night of the murder and had made statements to solicitors saying they saw nothing, Paula said the situation "stinks of a cover-up".  

One former Sinn Féin assembly candidate, Cora Groogan, said she had seen nothing. But a taxi driver who picked her up half an hour after the initial bar brawl told a Sunday newspaper: "She told me Magennis's had erupted and there were glasses and bottles flying everywhere."  

Gemma McCartney, noting that many people in the bar were probably members of Sinn Féin or the IRA, said the lack of witnesses who had seen anything was sinister.  

Sinn Féin has now turned the spotlight on the police, saying they are deliberately holding up the investigation in order to damage the party.  

It said a key suspect made himself available to police for interview this week but was turned away. One witness had named the person who hit him with a steel bar outside Magennis's.  

A second witness had named people involved in the bar brawl, and a third said he could pick out McCartney's attackers in an identity parade, it said. Mr Adams questioned why charges had not been brought against those named, and why an identity parade had not been arranged.  

The chief constable, Hugh Orde, dismissed claims of political manipulation. Witnesses were not coming forward to give evidence, so the investigation could not progress quickly, he said.  

The SDLP accused Sinn Féin of creating a "smokescreen". The police ombudsman, Nuala O'Loan, could launch an inquiry were she to suspect officers of behaving inappropriately, but has not intervened.  

Catherine McCartney said: "The police are accountable and under scrutiny. The only people who aren't accountable are the IRA."  

Whether all these accusations are damaging the McCartneys, who still have overwhelming support, or Sinn Féin itself, remains to be seen.

Timeline of events

 Tuesday am  

Dismissing a warning by Sinn Fein to stay out of US politics, four of the sisters of the murdered 33-year-old Belfast man Robert McCartney - Gemma, Donna, Claire and Catherine - arrived at Dublin airport to collect their tickets ahead of their St Patrick's Day meeting with US President George Bush. Prior to boarding the Baltimore flight, Catherine McCartney said: 'We are being very careful not to be used - we're not stupid women. The only person behind this is our Robert.' 

 Tuesday pm   

On arriving at Baltimore Washington International airport the five McCartney sisters, now joined by Paula and their brother's fiancee, Bridgeen Hagans, give a further press conference at which they promise to dispel any romantic visions that the US might have about the Irish Republican Army.  

 Wednesday  

Senator Edward Kennedy the US's most influential Irish-American politician, welcomes the sisters to Capitol Hill. He said that their presence in Washington sent 'a very powerful signal that it's time for the IRA to fully decommission, end all criminal activity and cease to exist as a paramilitary organisation'. Earlier, Senator Kennedy had pointedly refused to meet Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams.  

 Thursday   

President Bush, with the Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern beside him, shakes hands with Robert McCartney's sister Paula as Bridgeen Hagans and Catherine look on. During their St Patrick's Day meeting at the White House, the visitors gave Mr Bush details of their claim that IRA members murdered Robert McCartney in a brawl in a Belfast bar on January 30.   

 Thursday, later   

Bridgeen Hagans and the McCartney sisters leave the White House. According to Paula McCartney, the president appeared to have a 'very good understanding' of their campaign and told them that he was 100% behind them.  

Catherine McCartney added: 'He said he believed we would get justice, and he felt that the peace process was not safe unless justice was done.'  

Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited