Europees Parlement veroordeelt IRA-geweld (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The five biggest political groups in the European Parliament have tabled a motion condemning violence and criminality by the Irish Republican Army (IRA).

Their move is in support of a campaign by the four sisters and the fiancée of Robert McCartney, who was murdered by the IRA in Belfast in January.

The resolution, which will be debated today (9 May) in Strasbourg, calls on the European Commission to provide a financial contribution to the sisters' legal fees "if the Police Service of Northern Ireland is unable to bring a prosecution in relation to the murder of Robert McCartney".

The draft resolution also "deplores the insidious whispering campaign aimed at intimidating and discrediting the sisters and fiancée of Robert McCartney in their fight for justice".

It "calls on the leadership of Sinn Féin to insist that those responsible for the murder and witnesses to the murder co-operate directly with the Police Service of Northern Ireland and be free from the threat of reprisals from the IRA".

The resolution follows a visit by the sisters last month to the head of the European Parliament, Josep Borrell, and his counterpart in the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso.

The unprecedented campaign by the McCartney sisters, which goes against the traditional fear and secrecy that conspire to families of murdered victims quiet, sparked world-wide media interest resulting in the sisters being received in the White House.

At first, the IRA denied any involvement in the attack but then, bowing to the rising pressure by the sisters' campaign, admitted that three of its members had been involved in the fatal stabbing.

It says it expelled all three. Sinn Fein, the political wing of the IRA, has expelled seven members.

Communists not on board

However, nobody has been brought to book despite the fact that there were reportedly several witnesses in and around the bar where Mr McCartney was killed.

The five groups represent 627 of the 732 MEPs in the Brussels assembly. The communist GUE party, which contains the parliament's two Sinn Fein deputies, has not signed up to the resolution.

Instead it has formed its own resolution which does not recognise the political responsibility of Sinn Fein or the IRA for Mr McCartney's murder.