Verbatim report of proceedings

Monday, 9 May 2005 - Strasbourg

14. Justice for the McCartney Family

  President. The next item is the Commission Statement: Justice for the McCartney family.

I would like to inform you that the sisters of Robert McCartney are in the gallery, together with Mr Niall O'Neill. We welcome them to our debate.

  Dimas Stavros, Μember of the Commission. (EL) Mr President, the Commission wishes to reconfirm that it condemns Mr McCartney's murder outright. It totally understands and expresses its admiration for the decisive action taken by the McCartney sisters in their quest for truth and justice and wholeheartedly supports their efforts.

Although the Commission, as of course the McCartney family understands, cannot intervene in judicial investigations and proceedings by the Member States, it wishes to take this opportunity today to pay homage to the courage, dignity and quest for truth and justice on the part of the McCartney family. The Commission cannot but express its admiration for the strong and courageous stand taken by the McCartney sisters in their campaign for justice. It would like to express its solidarity with the McCartney family and is certain that, once the Irish judicial proceedings have been completed, the truth will out.

While there is no such thing as freedom without security, there is also no such thing as security without justice. The rule of law is the cornerstone of democracy and fundamental freedoms and the McCartney sisters are fighting not for revenge, but for justice. The Commission supports their case unreservedly.

  Avril Doyle, on behalf of the PPE-DE Group. – Mr President, I would like to begin by welcoming the representatives of the McCartney family here this evening and conveying the best wishes of the European Parliament to all the sisters – Catherine, Paula, Gemma, Clare and Donna, and indeed to the late Robert McCartney’s partner, Bridgeen. There is a welcome to them here in the European Parliament.

On behalf of Mr Poettering, the leader of the PPE-DE Group, on my own behalf, and particularly on behalf of my colleagues in the Irish delegation, I would like to pledge our fullest support to them in their courageous, dignified and determined pursuit of justice for their brother Robert’s brutal murder.

As my Party Leader in Dáil Éireann, Enda Kenny, said, Robert McCartney’s vicious beating and stabbing to death was ordered by a commander in the Belfast brigade of the provisional IRA, following a minor dispute between the commander’s uncle and the group with which Mr McCartney was socialising.

Robert McCartney was in the wrong place at the wrong time but this was no minor bar room brawl, as some have disgracefully attempted to portray it. His brutal beating and stabbing was a serious and savage attack, which bore all the hallmarks of a politically motivated IRA murder. It was perpetrated by up to 12 killers, a significant number of whom are known members of the provisional IRA.

Initially, Sinn Féin’s Alex Maskey vehemently denied IRA involvement but, two weeks later, having spoken to the family, Sinn Féin’s Gerry Kelly issued a statement on the matter and they accepted IRA involvement.

This killing was ruthlessly supervised and forensically covered up by men announcing that their activities were IRA business, by men who proceeded to intimidate the 70 witnesses to the crime and their families, first forbidding them from calling an ambulance on the night in question, as Robert McCartney bled to death before their eyes and his colleague lay seriously injured. Then they warned them not to cooperate with the authorities.

Such is the level of fear and intimidation of the witnesses that the code of silence surrounding the event has still not been broken, nearly four months after Robert McCartney’s death.

In tonight’s motion, we are calling ‘on the leadership of Sinn Féin to insist that those responsible for the murder and the witnesses to the murder cooperate directly with the PSNI and be free from the threat of reprisals from the IRA’, or indeed to cooperate with the Ombudsman of Northern Ireland.

The appalling offer by the IRA on 8 March 2005 to shoot dead the perpetrators of this awful crime is abhorrent and barbaric and has been met with incredulity in the civilised world. To even suggest that amends might be made through such summary justice indicates what few lessons, if any, have been learnt by the IRA over the past 30 years. It shows how little understanding this group has of the basic tenets of the rule of law in a democratic state.

The rule of law Sinn Féin advocates, and the IRA enforces, is a brutal regime of terror, intimidation and violence. One parallel to, and incompatible with, democratic society. One so grounded in illegality and criminality that it constitutes an affront to the very concept of justice and leaves its victims, such as the McCartney family in this case, powerless and without redress for their terrible loss.

But these brave women, the McCartney women, through refusing to be intimidated in their four-month campaign for justice for their brother and their partner, have achieved more to highlight the residual thuggery and criminality that has existed in Northern Ireland since the official IRA ceasefire than either of the two governments or the political establishment in Northern Ireland have managed to achieve in the last decade.

Today we, the European Parliament drawn from 25 Member States, add our voice to that of the Irish Government, the British Government and the United States Congress, in support of the McCartney campaign for justice. By bringing the killers of Robert to justice, there is a bigger statement being made in terms of a total rejection by all decent people of this continued wanton killing, maiming and violence. It is a call for real peace.

I hope we will be in a position to help Robert’s family if the necessity arises, if none of the witnesses, nor indeed the IRA or Sinn Féin themselves, are brave and honourable enough to supply to the Police Service of Northern Ireland or the Ombudsman the information necessary to institute criminal proceedings. We are not in danger of creating a precedent: this case is unique. For the first time the provisional movement has been shaken to the core by the depth of reaction from within its own community. They can now put their words into action. This case is a test of the movement’s sincerity, of its repeated disavowal of criminal activity in all its forms – or are they just more weasel words? Time will tell. I commend the resolution to the House.

  Hannes Swoboda, on behalf of the PSE Group. – (DE) Mr President, I wish to express the wholehearted support of the Socialist Group in the European Parliament for the McCartney family in their quest for justice, truth and peace. The McCartney sisters joined us for a group meeting chaired by Martin Schulz, when we – as we shall continue to do – marvelled at their courage and uprightness. We are very glad that Mr De Rossa and Mr Titley have taken up their cause, approaching it from two sides, which are, though, ultimately one and the same. If I, not being Irish, address the subject, I do so not least to put it on record that we see this, not as an Irish problem, but as a problem for Europe as a whole. When, as we are currently doing, we commemorate the end of the Second World War, we also recall that Europe is, for us, the answer to violence, whether or not politically motivated. The fact is that the sort of acts we are talking about today are not political measures, but criminal activities, albeit wrapped up in a political cloak. For all of us in this House, though, and for my group at any rate, Europe is about seeking to resolve conflicts, to discuss, and to negotiate; it is not about violence or about finding out who can be most violent.

John Hume, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, also attended our group meeting today, and he stressed how important it had always been for him to perceive and acknowledge the differences in this Europe of ours – not just the differences between two sides, but differences on the same side. What has happened in this instance – the cold-blooded murder of a man simply because someone did not like him or perhaps because his opinions differed from their own – is not acceptable. Even if a political grouping has definite objectives, it must nonetheless accept differing opinions, and so let me reiterate our wholehearted support for the McCartney family, for these courageous women, these courageous sisters, as they continue their struggle. We will be alongside them until the day when peace and justice also prevail in Northern Ireland, and, with them, the European spirit among those who do not as yet accept it. We will fight to the very end.

  Marian Harkin, on behalf of the ALDE Group. – Mr President, I thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak on this resolution on the murder of Robert McCartney.

On my own behalf and that of the ALDE Group, I warmly welcome the sisters and partner of Mr McCartney to the European Parliament in Strasbourg today. I should like to commend their courage and tenacity. They have raised their case in Belfast, Dublin, Washington DC and now in the European Parliament. I have no doubt but that we, in Parliament, will give them the strongest possible support in their pursuit of justice.

The circumstances of Robert McCartney’s murder shocked very many people. But the forensic clean-up and subsequent intimidation of witnesses and others outraged all of those who genuinely believe in justice, in truth, in the rule of law and democracy itself. While I know that the original intention was and still is to bring Mr McCartney’s murderers to justice, that search for justice has influenced the political landscape in Northern Ireland. It has dared to challenge those who thought of themselves as untouchable. It has forced the spotlight into some of the darker places where violence and intimidation still hold sway.

People have whispered about this for years, but those of us who did not experience it listened with incredulity and, I have to add, a certain amount of disbelief. However, it is now out in the open. While I cannot say that it will never happen again, I can say that finally the veil of secrecy has been lifted.

It is not possible in such a short time to give any meaningful background to the situation in Northern Ireland, but like any area where there is conflict, it is always a complex situation. Those who would have us believe that in Northern Ireland we have the good guys on one side and the bad guys on the other, do not accurately describe the situation.

I fully endorse the statement that violence and peace cannot coexist. But in order to finally eradicate violence and promote peace, there must be genuine willingness to enter into dialogue and to share power, and there must be an acceptance that the past cannot dictate the future.

When we look to the future, we look to women like the McCartneys, who refuse to bow down to intimidation and who want, more than anything, to live in a peaceful society. Unfortunately, when it comes to the peace process, we do not see too many women around the negotiating table; but when it comes to peace-making and peace-building in communities and neighbourhoods, it is often women who take the leading role; women who have an understanding that peace is not just about political statements, or documents signed or agreements negotiated. Such agreements are just the framework for peace. The real work of peace-building takes place in everyday interaction: in schools, offices, clubs and community centres, where women play a hugely important role.

With regard to peace funding, the EU has enabled many people of goodwill to contribute to peace-building in Northern Ireland. I believe that the EU can make a further contribution today. If the Police Service of Northern Ireland is unable to bring a prosecution, the EU could grant a financial contribution from the budget line for aid for the victims of terrorism to assist the McCartney family to mount civil proceedings in its search for the truth.

IN THE CHAIR: MR DOS SANTOS
Vice-President

  Jean Lambert, on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – Mr President, I also wish to welcome the partner and relatives of Robert McCartney today.

This weekend, I attended a vigil in London to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the death of Brian Douglas at the hands of the police. That is a fact, but no one has been prosecuted or held accountable for his death. Brian’s family is not alone: there are many such cases in the UK where people have lost loved ones to such violent deaths, yet no one is punished or held to account publicly in a court of law.

The families will tell you of their burning sense of injustice at this state of affairs and their anger that the killer of their loved one will continue to lead their own life, see their own children grow, spend time with friends and all of those things that they have robbed from their victim. Robert McCartney will never see his children grow.

We know that in many places witnesses have failed to come forward for one of two reasons: a misplaced sense of loyalty or fear of consequences. In the McCartney case we have both, set against a political backdrop that has further constricted the truth. Such silence hands the rule of law to thugs and to those who can feel powerful only by creating a culture of fear. They fear the truth. The offer from the IRA, as we have heard, to shoot the killers was an affront to justice and shows breathtaking arrogance. The IRA is not the law! In Northern Ireland, whatever the past, the ballot box now holds sway and the rule of law goes with that. There can be no argument for paramilitary justice for any sector of the community and my Group believes there never has been.

So the death holds a symbolism for the future: an opportunity to break with the past. That is why my Group has decided to support the spirit of the resolution, despite some of the wording and difficulties concerning the possible financial contribution from the Union, which is why we have asked for a separate vote on that issue.

However, the case offers an opportunity to break free from a culture of secrecy and fear and to bring the killers to account. It is time to break that stranglehold of the past and to create a rule of law that applies to all people in all communities.

  Helmuth Markov, on behalf of the GUE/NGL Group. – (DE) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, my group does, of course, wish to give Robert McCartney’s sisters a very warm welcome to the European Parliament. We wish to take this opportunity to reiterate our gratitude to them for having been able, in April, to meet them and to assure them that our group is alongside them in the search for their brother’s murderer, in their quest for justice, in their search for peace of mind, and in seeking to bring about the social conditions that enable people with differing views to live together in peace. To them I say: in your campaign against murder, we will always be by your side.

My group supports the justified demand that the murderer or murderers surrender to the police and that the witnesses should make – whether to the police or to the ombudsman or to some other body – statements that will stand up in court and help ensure that the murderer is punished as he deserves to be. There must be no walls of silence where murder is committed. It is for all of us to demand that the civil law should banish such things from every society. Every institution, every association, every party, every individual must use their influence to cause the rule of law to prevail, not only in the European Union, but also throughout the world. In this sense, we all share in the responsibility for ensuring a climate of openness in every land on earth, one that makes it possible for the rule of law to prevail and for laws to be obeyed.

My group condemns every use of military force as a means of policy. We condemn state-sponsored oppression and the use of force by the armed services or the police as a means of suppressing democratic movements, every bit as much as we do individual acts of murder or terrorism carried out by individuals or political groups against individuals or the structures of civil society, for such things do nothing to help deal with society’s problems; on the contrary, they make matters worse. Believing it to be necessary to support the peace process in Northern Ireland, my group calls on all interested parties to press on with the peace process that was set in motion by the Good Friday Agreement and to actively promote it.

In its motion for a resolution, my group’s sole concern is with the case of Robert McCartney, and it makes no attempt to establish a connection with certain political groups that are alleged to be responsible for his murder. There is a difference between someone inciting someone else to do something, doing it themselves, doing it on someone else’s behalf, or being a member of an organisation. That is why this resolution is drafted in this way, and I believe you will be able to wholeheartedly endorse its substance.

  Kathy Sinnott, on behalf of the IND/DEM Group. – Mr President, as an Irish MEP, I hesitate to speak on this matter. Since the tragic killing of Robert McCartney, I am concerned that politicians have pushed their own electoral agenda in the context of the recent elections and have lost sight of the real point of all this. I am, therefore, going to speak personally.

A man has been unspeakably, brutally murdered and the perpetrators have been able to walk freely and have not yet been brought to justice. His fiancée, Bridgeen, his children, his family, are caught up in a fight at a time when they should be free to grieve and work towards closure. Justice, it seems, is eluding these brave people and so they have come to us. But what can we offer besides more rhetoric in this already over-opinionated debate? We can give them what they ask for: financial assistance in their struggle. Funds will pay the legal bills and that is necessary. It will not, however, bring them justice: for this, I call on those present on that fateful night to have courage and testify against those who committed this crime. I ask this, not as a Member of this Parliament, but rather as a mother who cannot imagine the pain this courageous family is going through.

It is this Parliament’s duty to help financially. It is our obligation to seek peace for Northern Ireland. But, as a mother, I mostly beseech those with information on the thugs who perpetrated this act to come forward. This family needs justice to get closure and completion of this saga and to grieve in peace. They are in my prayers.

  Brian Crowley, on behalf of the UEN Group. – Mr President, I should like to join with my colleagues in welcoming the McCartney family to the Chamber to witness an unusual, unprecedented debate. Anybody who hears the story of Robert McCartney and what happened to him cannot but be struck by the malicious intent of those who were there. We can all, at times, excuse an occasional argument or even an accidental slap that might be given. But this was the sequence of events that took place that night: Robert McCartney was specifically targeted and people were instructed to take him out and kill him; those same people were then instructed to ensure that no emergency services could assist him and told to clean up the bar, eliminating all signs of any involvement or any link to any individual through forensic evidence and so on. We could have excused an accident or mishap, but that kind of premeditation and malicious intent cannot be excused.

The women of the McCartney family – Paula, Catherine, Donna, Gemma, Clare and Bridgeen – who are ordinary women in every aspect of their lives, have done something extraordinary. Through their pain, sorrow and search for justice they have united people across countries and political divides, including those who have had no involvement in any form of politics but can empathise with the pain and suffering of a family. It is now incumbent on those who have influence in Northern Ireland and those who have influence on these members of the IRA and other political organisations to give them up to the police service and the prosecution; to allow for justice to rule and prevail.

We speak about democracy on the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. We speak about justice and remembering victims. There have been thousands of victims in the conflict of Northern Ireland. Many of them from all communities have not received justice. Now is the time for people to stand up and show their true democratic principles; to show that they believe in the rule of law; that they believe in justice and equality and parity of esteem for all people in all families. It is up to us, in Parliament, to ensure that if this is not done at a political level in Northern Ireland, we can assist them on a legal level.

  James Hugh Allister (NI). – Mr President, right at the outset I salute the superb courage of the McCartney family. Intimidation and the capacity to impose its will through fear has always been as vital a weapon to the IRA as its guns and its bombs. In exposing and standing up to the thuggery of Sinn Féin/IRA, the McCartney sisters have shown remarkable bravery.

This was a foul murder. By a hand-signal indicating a knife should be used, a member of the IRA’s northern command gave the order to kill, and a key Sinn Féin member savagely wielded the knife and butchered this innocent man before multiple witnesses. An IRA unit, led by the volunteer who had fetched and then disposed of the knife, then coordinated a clean-up operation to destroy forensic and real evidence, including the CCTV footage. Then, in classic IRA style, the intimidation brigade swung into action to silence the witnesses. Though the IRA and Sinn Féin claim to have expelled or suspended up to ten members linked to this murder, their duplicity and double-dealing is amply illustrated by the fact that, three months after this murder, this cut-throat psychopath remained publicly proclaimed as one of Sinn Féin’s official treasurers. And the man who ordered the killing still struts the streets of Belfast in the company of the IRA’s chief of intelligence, Bobby Storey, and leading provisional IRA man, Eddy Copeland. So much for the IRA’s supposed disciplinary action: it is a farce.

We are due to hear in this debate from one of Sinn Féin/IRA’s representatives in this House. She and her partners are in a position to help this family by influencing Sinn Féin members, like Bob Fitzsimmons and Joe Fitzpatrick, and other people like Terry Davison, truthfully to tell the lawful authorities what they know of the horrific events in the alleyway. I challenge her to do so, but instead I fear we will hear the usual Sinn Féin empty, pious, weasel words that reek of insincerity, with hypocrisy dripping from every syllable. Sinn Féin/IRA could secure justice for the McCartney family but their priority is to protect their own. Hence the IRA-enforced wall of silence. Punitive and deterrent justice through the criminal courts is much the best option. If Sinn Féin/IRA succeed in denying criminal justice to this family, then I endorse the call that the EU should help fund an action so that the killers and conspirators can be pursued at least through the civil courts. But, given that the IRA has benefited to the tune of EUR 40 million from its Northern Bank robbery, it would be an odious scandal if state legal aid were available to anyone to defend such proceedings. Finally, I would add that the EU fund should also be available to the many other victims of the IRA, who for years have been denied justice because of this same intimidation.

  James Nicholson (PPE-DE). – Mr President, I wish to begin by adding my words of welcome to the McCartney family here this evening in our House, and pay tribute to their courage, strength and determination in what they have achieved and in what they have tried to do. I welcome the opportunity to have this debate. I wish to give my wholehearted support to the McCartney family in their quest for justice for their brother Robert.

The events that led to Robert McCartney’s murder show clearly the collusion that occurred. That night, not only was a murder committed, but also the bar was systematically wiped clean of evidence. This all happened in front of witnesses who seem to have seen nothing. The truth is that they are being intimidated and are afraid to come forward: such is the hold of the provisional IRA on the people in this area. I would urge those who have information to come forward and give that information to the Police Service of Northern Ireland and put it on record, and finally bring an end to this. The provisional IRA has instilled fear into people. Unfortunately, we seem to be no closer to resolving this murder. The great danger now is that the further we get away from the terrible events of 30 January, the more likely that this – like so many other murders of innocent people in Northern Ireland over the last 35 years – will go unsolved and will be forgotten about. That is something I would not want to happen.

I ask Parliament and the Commission to give every support to this joint resolution. I would like this House to reject what I consider to be a disgraceful resolution by the GUE/NGL Group. If Mr Markov had lived in Northern Ireland he would not have come out with the rubbish he spoke tonight to try to justify the cause of provisional IRA/Sinn Féin, who are sitting behind him. It is a well-known fact that the provisional IRA and Sinn Féin are inextricably linked.

I do not want to see the continued stonewalling against all appeals to bring those responsible for this evil deed to justice. We cannot condone such terror or intimidation in any part of the European Union. I do not want to see it in any part of any society in which I would want to live, in Northern Ireland in the future. We have suffered enough for far too long and we want a better life for everyone.

  Gary Titley (PSE). – Mr President, this Parliament has a very good record as a strong supporter of the peace process in Northern Ireland and, indeed, we were strong backers of the peace fund for Northern Ireland. It is therefore natural that we are concerned that the peace process has been running into difficulty, and the McCartney murder highlights one of the reasons for these difficulties.

It is often the case that so-called ‘freedom struggles’ come to be used by criminal elements who use a political cause as a cover for their activities. The McCartney murder has shown that this is happening in Northern Ireland. As we have heard, we have the motiveless murder of an innocent man. That murder has been met by a wall of silence and intimidation little different from that imposed by the Mafia elsewhere. As peace becomes more possible, the more the criminals – the drug runners, the bullies, the extortionists – feel threatened. Frankly, we have reached a crucial point in the peace process. It will not work unless we can break the hold of the gangsters. People have to come to realise that the so-called liberators have become their jailers.

This is not a phenomenon restricted purely to the Nationalist side. It is also a phenomenon of which we are aware on the Unionist side. But the issue we are debating today is the murder of Robert McCartney, and we need to keep that issue in the public eye. That is why Sinn Féin, in particular, has to break the wall of silence so that it can set its community free.

That is why we would support the use of the budget line for aid to the victims of terrorism in order to provide finance for any civil action taken by the family – money, I hasten to add, not directly for the family but money for a court action. We have to remember that for evil to thrive it only takes good men and women to remain silent.

The results of the general election in Northern Ireland last week show that there has been a move in support of those who are opposed to the Good Friday agreement. Time is running out for the peace process and that is why we need to maintain our pressure on those responsible for the murder and cover-up because, unless we resolve this issue, the peace process will fail completely.

  Marian Harkin (ALDE). – Mr President, I agree with all speakers here today who have said that there is no argument for paramilitary justice. Nobody in Parliament today has condoned or justified the terrible act, but all have called for justice. There is no need for the IRA to continue to exist. Sinn Féin has asked the IRA to cease its armed policy. It should do so immediately. That will help to prevent the recurrence of such acts as the murder of Robert McCartney. However, right now there must be an insistence that those who cold-bloodedly murdered Mr McCartney and those who witnessed it should cooperate fully with the police service of Northern Ireland.

Equally, there is an urgent need to moderate the language of politics in Northern Ireland. In recent times the mask has slipped and parties who advocate peaceful means have used inflammatory language, which exacerbates rather than calms the situation.

There is a phrase often used in Northern Ireland politics: ‘We all jump together’. Some of those who took that leap of faith in earlier times were not rewarded for their courage and now find themselves more on the periphery than holding the middle ground. Now others stand on the edge of that very same precipice. They have the responsibility and the duty to jump together.

  Bairbre de Brún (GUE/NGL). –

(The speaker first spoke in Irish)

Mr President, Sinn Féin supports the McCartney family’s demand for those responsible for Robert’s murder to face trial and will continue to do all that it can to help them. I welcome them here today.

Our party has met with the McCartney family a number of times. I met them a few weeks ago when they visited Parliament in Brussels. I have pledged them my support and the support of our party. Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams has called on those responsible to come forward and admit their responsibility for this horrendous murder. They have refused. He has also called on everyone who was in the vicinity of Magennis’s Bar to provide full and frank statements.

Because we take this matter so seriously, eleven members of our party who were in the bar on that night and one who arrived on the scene later were suspended without prejudice. This has been done to establish whether they complied with the call by party leaders for everyone to provide a full and frank statement. Two members were expelled for refusing to follow this instruction; four others resigned; the other six remain suspended pending a report to our party’s national executive.

(The speaker spoke in Irish)

As a Sinn Féin MEP and as an individual, I could not campaign for the victims of British or Unionist paramilitary thuggery if I was not as clear and as committed to justice for the McCartney family. Those responsible for the brutal killing of Robert McCartney should admit to what they did in a court of law. That is the only decent thing for them to do. Others who have any information should come forward. It is our belief that the PSNI – the Police Service of Northern Ireland – could and should have acted by now. It has not carried out a thorough investigation.

  Eoin Ryan (UEN). – Mr President, I too should like to welcome the McCartney family members to the Chamber. I salute their courage and bravery in endeavouring to get justice for their brother.

Robert McCartney was brutally murdered by a gang of thugs and criminals masquerading as Republican political activists or IRA freedom fighters. These people should be brought to justice. They have murdered an innocent man and severely injured his colleague. They have compromised the good names and reputations of those people in their own political family who were witnesses to, but not involved in, this murder.

The entirely innocent people who were accidentally present at the time of the murder have been obliged to remain silent about these events: in effect to become accomplices in the crime of these thugs and criminals. The guilty people continue to walk the streets of their community and to associate with their political family despite the pretence of disowning them by the Sinn Féin leadership. Its political and parliamentary leadership has shown that it is unable or unwilling to control them. Their continued freedom raises a fundamental question concerning Sinn Féin and the IRA movement: who controls the direction that this movement takes in the future? Is its future to be shaped by people who genuinely subscribe to the Irish peace process and to the resolution of the problem in Ireland by democratic means, or are Sinn Féin and the IRA controlled by people who are prepared to tolerate and even support criminal acts of murder?

I know that these sorts of acts do not only happen on one side of the community, unfortunately. There are other groups involved in paramilitary activities, beatings and shootings. They too must be condemned. But the leadership of Sinn Féin and the IRA has the power and influence to bring the thugs and criminals who murdered Robert McCartney to justice if it so wants. So far it has shown itself to be more interested in political posturing and media manipulation than in getting justice for the McCartney family.

Why is it that the McCartney family has to go to Washington, Brussels, Strasbourg, London and other places to get justice when, in its own community, it is not being properly represented by the people who say they represent it – Sinn Féin/IRA? Why is the family looking for justice here? Why is Sinn Féin/IRA not helping it on the ground to get justice within its own community?

Yesterday an article was written by Jim Cusack in The Sunday Independent. If half or one-third of what he wrote is true, then Sinn Féin/IRA has a serious problem about controlling what is happening in the communities it says it represents.

The time has come for Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness to produce the people guilty of this crime and oblige them to submit themselves to the will of the courts. They should not be allowed to hide behind the cover of the political movement they claim to support.

I support this resolution and the proposal for the family to be given full funding for any legal fees it may incur if it goes to trial.

  Simon Coveney (PPE-DE). – Mr President, I, too, want to welcome and salute members of the McCartney family, who continue their crusade for justice outside Ireland and within it.

On 30 January, their brother Robert was murdered by members of the Irish Republican Army in Belfast. This is not the only brutal murder that has, unfortunately, taken place on our island in the last 30 years; but this one has caused many across the world to sit up and recognise the activity that is continuing in Ireland seven years after the historic Good Friday Agreement.

The facts are sobering. A savage murder was ordered outside a pub in Belfast less than four months ago, carried out by psychopaths, witnessed by 70 to 80 people. A clinical clean-up operation – which took some time, I might add – was then ordered by local IRA leaders. Since then, there has been such intimidation within the community that it has resulted in silence: people live in fear of reprisals if they speak out.

In this House, we have representatives from the political party Sinn Féin who, by their own admission, have a special relationship with the IRA and that is why we refer to them. Both the Irish and British Governments describe them as two sides of the same coin. Sinn Féin is not and has not been doing enough to bring justice to this horrid affair. It is also a fact that Sinn Fein’s influence within communities in Northern Ireland can bring about justice in this case. But what we hear are words and more words of support instead of actions on the ground.

Robert McCartney’s sisters continue their quest for justice and we must support them here in this House where we can. We need to end impunity where it exists: outside the European Union, where we have influence; but more importantly, within the European Union and in this case in a community in Northern Ireland. This Parliament can help by raising the issue and also potentially by providing finance, as stated in the motion for a resolution. I support both those ideas. We call on the Council and the Commission to make financial assistance available if a civil case proceeds. We hope that will not be the case and that the Police Service of Northern Ireland will bring a trial successfully to court, with the cooperation of those who have influence within communities in Northern Ireland. The week before last, we in this Parliament adopted a resolution on human rights. Its essence was the need to end the scourge of impunity in parts of the world. We must lead by example and do the same in Belfast.

  Proinsias De Rossa (PSE). – Mr President, the sole purpose of this resolution is to achieve justice for the McCartney family – whom I welcome here this evening – by insisting that normal policing and judicial procedures be allowed to take their course in relation to the murder of their brother Robert.

It is claimed by Sinn Féin that the murder of Robert McCartney was not politically motivated. That will not be known for certain until this matter is heard in a court of law. It is a fact that the forensic clean-up of the murder scene, the intimidation of witnesses, the offer by the IRA to murder the murderers and the refusal to cooperate with the Police Service of Northern Ireland are politically motivated and cannot be separated from the murder itself. It is also a fact that the so-called IRA is the most active and politically driven perpetrator of violence and intimidation in Northern Ireland, that it engages in widespread criminality in Northern Ireland, in the Republic of Ireland and also in Britain and does so to enforce its rule of law and to fund its activities. Until that criminal activity is stopped definitively and the iron grip that the Republican movement exercises on various parts of Northern Ireland is ended, there is little possibility that ordinary citizens can hope to have their human rights vindicated.

The European Convention on Human Rights, echoed in the new European Constitution, enshrines the right to life, freedom from torture, no punishment without law, freedom of expression, the right to an effective legal remedy and the right to liberty, security and a fair trial. They are all denied by the IRA, by word and by deed, on a regular basis. Indeed, Sinn Féin, by its continued integral link with the IRA, is just as guilty, in spite of its claims. By seeking to spread the blame to criminals generally for the monstrous murder of Robert McCartney, the GUE/NGL resolution and the amendment by the Verts/ALE Group naively allows Sinn Féin and the IRA to wash their hands of the known complicity of the members of the IRA before, during and after the murder and should not, therefore, be supported by this House. I would urge the House to support the joint resolution.

  Liam Aylward (UEN). – Mr President, I too welcome the McCartney family here this afternoon and offer them my support in their efforts to get justice in the appalling murder of Robert.

In my view the death of Robert McCartney was not in any way politically motivated. The people who murdered him should be obliged to face judgment in the courts and to serve their sentences in prison. The fact that most, if not all, of the people involved in this murder are either members or supporters of the IRA or Sinn Féin in no way excuses their actions. Their failure to give themselves up for justice endangers the reputation of Sinn Féin and of its leadership. Even more importantly, the failure of Sinn Féin’s leadership to ensure that justice is done in this case undermines the cause of Irish Republicanism. Nobody should ever be allowed to use the cloak of Irish Republicanism to hide the murder of an innocent person when the motives have no political justification whatsoever.

Like the great majority of the people on the island of Ireland, I have always aspired to a united Ireland. I have always thought of myself as an Irish Republican, as indeed do the McCartney family. I am therefore sickened that anybody should expect that their republicanism can be used as an excuse for violent and despicable acts of murder, particularly in the case of Robert McCartney.

This is a view which I believe is shared by the vast majority of the Irish people. The cause of Irish Republicanism must be completely separated from common criminality now and in the future. The actions and statements of the Sinn Féin leadership over the last few months have failed to make any significant progress in getting justice for the McCartney family. It is still not too late for the Sinn Féin leadership to rectify this failure, provided it has the commitment to do so.

As the leaders of the largest republican party in the six counties, and in particular after last week’s election, they have a duty to separate the cause of Irish Republicanism from the acts of common criminals. They also have an obligation to the McCartney family, who have a right to expect justice for the murder of Robert. This appalling saga has already gone on for far too long. I commend this motion to the House.

  Stavros Dimas, Member of the Commission. Mr President, I would like to inform you that I shall report back to President Barroso about this discussion – President Barroso had the pleasure of meeting members of the McCartney family about a month ago – and I shall also inform Vice-President Frattini about the request for the possibility of funding to cover the judicial procedures expenses.

The Commission fully supports the peace and reconciliation process in the region, not least through the Peace Programme, which quite a few Members mentioned, which is worth around EUR 760 million for the period 2000-2006. This includes funding for programmes in the McCartney sisters’ neighbourhood, such as an after-school club, a youth victim support programme and a community economic regeneration programme.

Once again, I would like to express my deep admiration for these brave people: the McCartney family.

  President. I have received two motions for resolutions⁽¹⁾, tabled in accordance with Rule 103(2) of the Rules of Procedure.

The debate is closed.

The vote will take place on Tuesday.

IN THE CHAIR: MR McMILLAN-SCOTT
Vice-President

(1) See Minutes