Bruce Arnold writing in yesterday’s Sunday Independent reckons that the IRA’s secret, illegal and wholly unaccountable self investigation will satisfy no one but its own support:
The IRA has owned up publicly. It has made some attempt to deliver on promised expulsions, conceding ‘involvement’, but leaving unresolved what the McCartneys want in terms of justice. Having killed their victim and seriously injured his friend, members of the organisation then destroyed the evidence of the crime. The IRA would have done nothing to rectify this without the courageous campaign of the family. The subsequent IRA investigation was secret, illegal, and carried the implied threat of further illegal sanctions and of possible violence.
However, he points out:
Some will welcome their move as better than nothing. But it does not meet the position of the McCartney’s sisters, who have expressed confidence in the PSNI investigation. They want those with information to give it to the police. The people with information are the IRA. The IRA will not co-operate with the PSNI investigation.
With an echo of Lear, he hints that the organisation’s reassurances can be read an ominnous intent to do nothing:
This puts in question the IRA’s statement that “nothing” should impede the family’s search for justice. It is also ominous about further possible violence in the references to the fact that “intimidation or threats will not be tolerated”.
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