Funeral of Declan McGlinchey takes place in Co Derry

The funeral of 39-year-old Declan McGlinchey who died suddenly from a heart attack on Sunday has taken place in Bellaghy, Co Derry.

Mr McGlinchey is the son of Irish National Liberation Army leader Dominic McGlinchey, who was shot dead in Drogheda in 1994, and of Mary McGlinchey, also an INLA leader.

She was shot dead as she was bathing Declan McGlinchey and his brother Dominic Óg at their home in Dundalk in 1987. That murder was part of an internal INLA feud. It is not known who killed Dominic McGlinchey.

Hundreds of people attended Mr McGlinchey’s funeral on Wednsday following behind his coffin which was draped in the Starry Plough flag associated with the INLA.

In 2011 during the trial of Colin Duffy and Brian Shivers, who were accused of murdering British soldiers Mark Quinsey and Patrick Azimkar outside Massereene army barracks in Antrim in March 2009, Declan McGlinchey was named as the getaway driver during the attack.

Mr McGlinchey, who was married with 7 children, issued a statement through his solicitor denying the claim. Two years earlier he was cleared of bomb-making and possession.

The Traditional Unionist Voice party complained of a paramilitary display at the funeral. "The recent report into paramilitary activity stated that the INLA not only remains in existence but is attempting to recruit new members," said TUV councillor Stephen Cooper.

“The report also made it clear that, like the IRA, the INLA continues to have access to weapons and is heavily involved in criminality including extortion, drug dealing and fraud. It is therefore outrageous that such a show of strength was permitted to take place,” he added.

The Irish Republican Socialist Party, the political wing of the INLA, said Declan McGlinchey’s death would be a “huge loss” to the republican socialist movement.

Continuity IRA prisoners in Maghaberry prison issued a statement expressing their sadness at his death. “Declan was a proud republican, steeped in a tradition lived by his mother and father,” they said.