The daughter of IRA victim Jean McConville and political parties North and South have denounced the IRA over its latest statement defending her murder. Dan Keenan and Liam Reid report.
Mrs McConville's daughter, Helen McKendry, described a weekend statement from the IRA as "self-serving".
Jean McConville, a widowed mother of 10, was abducted from her Divis home in west Belfast in December 1972, shot dead by the IRA and secretly buried. Her body was eventually found on a Co Louth beach in 2003.
The IRA said in a statement on Saturday, which was signed by P O'Neill, that the results of what it called a "thorough investigation" concluded that she "was working as an informer for the British army". This was a direct contradiction of Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan's finding on Friday that there was no evidence Mrs McConville passed information.
Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams said: "Whatever about the circumstances surrounding Jean McConville's killing, the burial of her remains was a great injustice to the family. And the family endured significant hardship in the years which followed."
However, Ms McKendry said Mrs O'Loan had confirmed her mother's innocence. "They [ the IRA] can't put a statement out saying they murdered an innocent woman, so this is their way of justifying what they did," she said.
She told The Irish Times last night: "I want the IRA to show me proof, where is their proof? A couple of years ago . . . all the people who were involved in the kidnapping or the murder had either left the country, or they were old, or they are senile and that is why they couldn't find the grave. But now all of sudden they can come up with this."
Referring to Mrs O'Loan's findings, Mrs McKendry said: "[ My mother] was abducted in December but, in between, she was in hospital with a nervous breakdown and tried to take her own life three times. So where did she find the time [ to be an informer]? Who would she have known to have any connection with the IRA?"
Politicians in Belfast and Dublin heaped scorn on the IRA statement. But Taoiseach Bertie Ahern refused to be drawn on the issue. "The Taoiseach will not be making any comment on it," a Government spokesman said yesterday.
However, the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, said the IRA Army Council members of the time should be "held to account" over the murder.
Opposition leaders also condemned the statement. Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said it "says more about the IRA than it does about anyone else".
"The IRA is responsible for her death and no circumstances, in a civilised society, justify their actions." He claimed the IRA and republican elements had further evidence on other murders and disappearances.
Labour leader Pat Rabbitte described the statement as "shameful" and indicated the republican movement "still has some way to go to accepting the norms and standards of a democratic society".
The McConville case was "a particularly important and significant case for the Republican Movement in view of the reported role in events in 1972 of people who are now senior members of Sinn Féin".
SDLP leader Mark Durkan also criticised the IRA and the reaction to P O'Neill's statement by Gerry Adams. "We should remember that this statement comes from the same IRA whose intelligence and investigation knew nothing about Messrs Donaldson and Scapaticci," he said.
"A mother was abducted, taken away and shot through the head. A life was extinguished, a family bereaved and broken up and all Gerry Adams says is that it was wrong that the dead body was never returned. That is unethical and unacceptable."
A Sinn Féin spokesman said: "The IRA have said what the IRA have said. Sinn Féin have said what Sinn Féin have said and that's all we are going to say about it."
IRA statement
Following a public request from the family of Jean McConville the IRA carried out a thorough investigation into all the circumstances surrounding her death.
That investigation confirmed that Jean McConville was working as an informer for the British army.
The conclusion of this investigation was reported to Michael McConville.
The IRA accepts he rejects this conclusion.
The IRA regrets the suffering of all the families whose loved ones were killed and buried by the IRA.
P O'Neill