Madam, - I write in relation to Gerry Adams's recent comment about events that "happen", and how they are being used to tear down the peace process. The murder of Robert McCartney and the Northern Bank robbery were not events that just "happened". To suggest that they were would be to give them as much random significance as that of a tree falling from age.
This is as vile and disingenuous an example of doublespeak as I have heard in a long time. The fact is that this was a deliberate and brutal murder executed in full view of a large number of witnesses. The IRA deliberately sanitised all forensic evidence, and then deliberately proceeded to intimidate witnesses. Then it offered to shoot the murderers.
Furthermore, contrary to what Mr Adams is saying publicly, I have heard of Sinn Féin supporters suggesting that the sisters of Robert McCartney are using their campaign to feather their nests. This is what Sinn Féin members are reputedly saying on the streets. It is a pernicious attempt to discredit Mr McCartney's sisters, and to remove their grassroots support.
With regard to the Northern Bank robbery, the list of crimes involved are many, and include kidnap, assault, battery, breaking and entering, theft, money-laundering, possession of illegal weaponry, among others. The raid itself, while ham-fisted, took a great deal of planning and a significant conspiracy to pull off. This armed robbery was not an event that just "happened".
The issue, Mr Adams, is that the IRA deliberately carried out these acts. Whether or not Sinn Féin leaders were involved before or during these events is immaterial. By his actions since these deliberate crimes he has revealed Sinn Féin to be a morally and ethically bankrupt organisation.
It is outrageous that Gerry Adams and his colleagues continue to obfuscate about criminal acts. There is no political validation possible for using criminal acts to finance their so-called struggle. He says that he is against all crime, but the subtext of what he is saying is that while the British are in control of the North, and the Free State continues to exist, the IRA is entitled to rob, murder and maim until its revolution is successful. Its twisted logic is that any act committed in furtherance of this revolution cannot be a crime, as it is in defence of its so-called mandate.
The reality is quite different. The Republic of Ireland exists in fact, and has been validated through almost 100 years of democratic process by the electorate. The Irish people have ratified the current Constitution repeatedly.
It is the stated will of the people, and it supersedes any previous constitutions that may have existed in this land. No future revolution can ever validate crimes committed by the IRA, and this includes murder, robberies, extortion, drug dealing and tax evasion.
If Sinn Féin is to take part in democratic proceedings, it must publicly accept these points as facts. It must turn its back on its current crop of Mafia thugs, and must step forward as a mature democratic and law-abiding party. By law-abiding I mean that the Sinn Féin party and all its members must obey the laws of the sovereign authorities of these islands as they stand today, and as they evolve into the future.
Any other position is a declaration that the Sinn Féin party does not recognise the respective constitutions of these islands, and consequently is a declaration that Sinn Féin holds the people in contempt. - Yours, etc.,
CORMAC MacGOWAN, Convent Court, Delgany, Co Wicklow.
Madam, - Gerry Adams has repeatedly said that the killing of Garda Jerry McCabe was "wrong" and the killing of Robert McCartney was "wrong". The Northern Bank Robbery was also "wrong" - but so too is stealing a motor car.
Can he not bring himself to describe these actions in any stronger terms? Words such as cowardly, vicious, barbaric, heinous and bloody do not seem to feature in his selective vocabulary of disapproval. - Yours, etc.,
JOHN GIBSON, Ailesbury Grove, Dundrum, Dublin 16.
Madam, - I see that Martin McGuinness is worried that the women fighting for justice for Robert McCartney should not be seen to be playing politics.
Is this not what his party did by inviting them into its ardfheis not so long ago?
If he and his party would engage in the democratic political progress it might serve them better. Listen to yourself, Mr McGuinness. - Is mise,
E. MAC OIREACHTAIGH, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14.