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It will be generations before the suffering and the grief
experienced by innocent Ulster people during the 30 years
of the 'Troubles' is eased. Certainly, the anguish will never
be forgotten by their families, and one has only to bear in
mind that 80 years from the guns ceased at the end of the
1914-18 War bereaved families still mourn the loss of men
who left Ulster and died in Flanders and France.
The deep sense of loss, and of anger on the part of families
and friends of those murdered in Northern Ireland during the
past 30 years is easy to understand, especially when they
see hundreds of killers and bombers being released from prison,
many many years before their sentences were due to end.
Where is the justice in all this? Is this not too high a
price to pay for a 'peace process' - an armed peace in which
the I.R.A. holds on to its vast arsenal of weaponry?
The loyalist paramilitary groups also committed awful crimes,
and the only redeeming feature about the decision of the U.V.F.
and U.F.F. to end their campaign of violence has been the
willingness of these organisations and their leaders to acknowledge
the hurt and suffering they caused.
Their former gunmen have been prepared to take part in the
B.B.C. programme 'Loyalists' and apologise for their wrongdoing.
No such apologies or regret has been expressed by the I.R.A.
murderers who slaughtered innocent people at Kingsmill, Tullyvallen
Orange Hall, La Mon, Teebane, Bloody Friday, or the atrocious
killings of Sir Norman Stronge and his son James.
No, there is a long, long way to go before families of innocent
people gunned down or blown to bits can accept that it is
in the best interests of everyone, and of peace, that convicted
killers should be released, in many cases before their sentences
have hardly begun.
On the subject of paramilitary murders, it is interesting
to note that a recent 'Belfast Telegraph' survey revealed
that only 29 per cent of the 1,940 murders by republicans
during the Troubles were solved, compared to 50 per cent of
888 murders carried out by loyalist paramilitary organisations.
It confirms what many people have long suspected, that the
security forces were far less successful in their attempts
to penetrate and deal with the I.R.A. and fellow republican
organisations. Indeed, to take one example.
In Co. Fermanagh all but two of some 150 terrorist murders
were carried out by the I.R.A. and other republican groups.
Yet, only a handful of cases in that county have been solved,
and few I.R.A. terrorist were brought to the bar of justice.
Sadly, in spite of repeated assurances given down the years
by successive governments to the peaceful and law-abiding
people of Northern Ireland, the action needed to defeat the
men of terror was not taken. The I.R.A. never experienced
the full might of the British State, or anything comparable
to the action taken in the Falklands.
Indeed, the low profile and lethargic security drive against
the I.R.A. ended with Sinn Fein/I.R.A. representatives gaining
access to the corridors of power. How many law-abiding people
get near the door of No.10 Downing Street? Most cannot get
beyond the security gates at the end of Downing Street.
Yet, the representatives of terror are now received for tea
and biscuits by ministers who appear to be totally insensitive
to the effect that appeasement on this scale has on the victims
of terrorism.
Protestations on the part of government ministers about feeling
sorry for the victims of I.R.A. terrorism are meaningless
when the evidence on all sides is that violence has paid and
the perpetrators of horrendous crimes are free and back in
society, while the families of victims continue to suffer.
No apology has been forthcoming from the I.R.A. and other
republicans for their crimes, no pledge that the violence
has ended for ever, matched by a handover of the weapons of
death. And no identification of the places where many victims
of the I.R.A. have been buried, or a guarantee that people
forced to flee Northern Ireland due to terrorist activities
are free to return.
What a travesty of a 'peace' which has not been founded on
a complete renunciation of violence by the I.R.A. and other
groups as a means of pursuing political objectives.
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