Ahern condemns 'horrific' IRA shooting offer
The IRA’s offer to shoot those involved in the killing of Belfast man Robert McCartney was shocking and horrific, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said today.
An IRA statement said it had told Mr McCartney’s sisters and his partner during a meeting that it was prepared to shoot the people directly involved in his death outside a Belfast pub on January 30.
But the family rejected the offer and said they wanted those responsible brought to justice through the courts.
Mr Ahern said today: “It was an extraordinary statement and a shock to the system. Sometimes you hear these things and it’s hearsay but then you actually see it in a written form.
“We all want to see justice to be done but their (IRA) response to that was to eliminate three or four people. It’s horrific.”
“I have to say I was shocked last night and I read that statement more than once. This is a democratic society and we all want to see the rule of law operate.”
Speaking to reporters in Dublin, Mr Ahern added that senior civil servants who had worked with him on the peace process over many years did not believe such a statement would come from the IRA.
He said: “They just did not believe it. The statement, probably is, as the IRA see it, factually the position. That’s what the shock is. Maybe we shouldn’t be shocked but that’s the position and it’s a fairly horrific way of setting out the position.”
The family of Mr McCartney is to formally respond today to the statement this afternoon.
Justice Minister Michael McDowell described last night’s statement by the IRA as “astonishing” and “bizarre“.
Mr McDowell said: “The IRA is living, I don’t want to say in a parallel moral universe but in a twilight zone, where they have completely different expectations to the rest of us.”
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