Ahern may look a fool if IRA is blamed
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IS it peace at any price? Are the Irish and British government's willfully ignoring the involvement of the IRA in the savage murder of Paul Quinn?
It's beginning to look that way, if the claims of Mr Quinn's anguished family and the Independent Monitoring Commission are to be believed.
Take this statement from John Grieve, the former commander of Scotland Yard's anti-terrorism unit, commenting on the killing.
"We do believe that those who were involved in the attack on him -- in his brutal murder -- included people who are members or former members or have associations with members or former members of the Provisional IRA."
Grieve's early opinion and that of his three IMC colleagues seems vastly, and disturbingly, at odds, with what Bertie Ahern and the British government say.
The next IMC report, which is due in April 2008, will address in detail the circumstances of how Mr Quinn, from Cullyhanna in Co Armagh, came to be beaten to death by the IRA lynch mob in a cowshed in Co Monaghan.
Murder
The murder happened in this State. But so far, there has been silence from the Irish Government, apparently paralysed by fear of upsetting Sinn Fein and the fragile balance of the North's government.
The quest for justice has been left to Mr Quinn's dignified family and their growing support group living in south Armagh where the ruthless rule of a number of IRA "military families" holds sway.
In a stark report on BBC's 'Newsnight', local people said the beatings are a regular occurence and that IRA families have replaced the rule of law with Stalinist rough justice.
Almost 200 people met in the community centre in Cullyhanna on Wednesday night, a show of unity to encourage people to provide any information about the murder.
Yet Bertie Ahern and his counterparts in Britain appear to be blocking their ears to all the available evidence, insisting, on Sinn Fein's say so, that "criminals", not members of the IRA, killed the 21-year-old.
The lack of official urgency from the politicians is telling.
The IMC reports every six months but it has the power to deliver reports sooner if a request is made by either the Irish or British governments.
Savage
That happened in the aftermath of Robert McCartney's savage murder outside a Belfast pub. But in the case of Mr Quinn there has been no such request.
As the gardai and the PSNI continue their inquiries, local people continue to live in fear with some telling 'Newsnight' that the IRA beatings are routine.
"This is a desperately dangerous place to live. They have different ways of getting to you. Some of these lads are one kick away from death," one man told the programme.
A series of severe beatings have been meted out to young men. Many locals say they were carried out by existing or former members of the IRA.
About 12 have taken place in the small area of villages near Mr Quinn's home.
Yet Bertie Ahern still insists that the murder of Mr Quinn was the work of criminals, that there is no IRA involvement.
He will need to be sure. Because an IMC report pinning the blame on the IRA, whether sanctioned by its top people or not, could make Mr Ahern look a complete fool.
- Ciaran Byrne
