Outrage follows SF chairman's remark about mother's killing
Wednesday January 19 2005
Her family, who only got to bury their mother after her body was recovered in Co Louth over a year ago, were outraged at the remarks and Mrs McConville's son Michael called on Mr McLaughlin to resign from his chairmanship of Sinn Fein because of his comments.
He said Mr McLaughlin and Louth TD Arthur Morgan - who made similar remarks - "should be holding their heads in shame".
Opposition parties last night hit out at Mr McLaughlin's comments, with Labour leader Pat Rabbitte saying: "Any civilised society must consider the abduction and murder of a mother of 10 children to be a crime of considerable barbarism."
Fine Gael leader in the Seanad Brian Hayes said what the IRA had done in killing 1,500 people over 35 years was "a crime in every circumstance", including the Mrs McConville's murder.
Mr McLaughlin's remarks were condemned immediately by Justice Minister Michael McDowell as being indicative of the Republican view that they were the government in this country.
In heated exchanges with the Justice Minister on RTE's Questions and Answers on Monday night, Mr McLaughlin said he believed the murder of Mrs McConville in 1972 was "wrong" but he did not regard it as a crime.
Mr McDowell said the reason why the Sinn Fein chairman felt this way was "because they all believe the IRA is the legitimate government of this country".
Mr McLaughlin's comments were widely viewed as a major gaffe and yesterday he issued a statement as the controversy grew, again repeating that he regarded Mrs McConville's killing as being wrong.
He made no reference in this to his remark that the murder was not a crime. He added: "I have no wish to add to the hurt and grief of the McConville family. I responded to the Minister's question and made clear that I believed that the killing was wrong."
Sen Hayes said they had to hope that Sinn Fein had a peaceful future but they had to be reminded of their "grisly past".
During the Questions and Answers exchanges, Mr McDowell told the Sinn Fein chairman: "The bar has been raised to this point - there can be no budge and no fudge on the issue of criminality.
"Sinn Fein and the IRA have to make it very clear that from now on, there can be no exiling, no robberies, no kidnappings, no punishment beatings.
"None of these things can happen.
"And if they do happen at the behest of a group to which you are allied, you exit the political process - mandate or no mandate, out you go", he said.
Mr McLaughlin responded: "Well, we'll see about that. At the end of the day, it's a matter for the people of Ireland."
He also said anybody who believed the IRA was going to issue a statement saying it would no longer be involved in criminality was "living in cloud cuckoo land".
- Gene McKennaPolitical Editor
