Corporate Murder
I've arrived at Stormont today intent on covering statements on water charges, debates on abortion, and further twists and turns in the Margaret Ritchie affair. But given the news about the brutal murder of Paul Quinn it feels a bit like a parallel universe. In the old set up, I have a feeling we would already be camped outside Hillsborough Castle by now waiting to hear if the Secretary of State was about to sign a suspension order.
So far, although Mr Quinn's family has blamed the IRA, the DUP has sounded cautious about bringing the Stormont house down. I have heard of the offence of corporate manslaughter before, but it was a bit novel to listen to Jeffrey Donaldson talking about the ramifications if the IRA is found to have been "corporately" involved in Mr Quinn's death. His former colleague Jim Allister insists there must be no "phoney distinctions" made between acts by individual IRA members and the IRA as an organisation.
Conor Murphy says he's convinced republicans weren't involved. But his former colleague Jim McAllister says Conor should have talked to Mr Quinn's family before sounding so certain.
On the one hand the DUP will argue that they must await the evidence before jumping to conclusions. On the other, those of us who covered the murders perpetrated by IRA fronts like "Direct Action Against Drugs" know how reluctant the authorities can be in declaring clearly that the IRA sanctioned a particular crime when it is not politically expedient to make such a statement.
The Margaret Ritchie affair had looked as if it would tip us into a new politics with the DUP and Sinn Fein pitted against their executive partners. But now we have a horrible reminder of the old realities, and the biggest test of this kind for the Executive since devolution was restored.
I'm 
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it will take more than one murder to convince the executive that principles are worth more than salaries and pensions.. question for a debate perhaps.. how much salary and pension equals a human life
I don't really see how this is a big test for the executive. Ian Paisley Jnr said it would be very serious if the IRA were proved to be involved. So how do you prove that?
I can't see the IRA claiming responsibility, and I can't see the police charging anyone with the murder AND membership. It's an even greater leap to imagine the police or courts categorically stating orders were given by a commander to the gang responsible.
Gerry Adams, in his usual semantic way says it wasn't republicans who killed Paul Quinn, it was criminals. You can't be both in Gerry's world. Once you commit a crime you automatically stop wanting Ireland to be a single independent republic. You are no longer worthy of his political beliefs. Either that or he knows everybody who didn't commit the murder.
Another consideration is Shaun Woodward. If he got a sniff of a serious effort to pin this one on the provos the big cogs of British Establishment would slowly start turning to protect their multi-billion pound investments since the Good Friday was signed, and rightly so.
Jim Allister and Jim McAllister are trying to use the murder to embarrass their former colleagues, which is only embarrassing to them. They are transparent and will be largely ignored, something they should be used to by now.
Finally, this executive are going to do their utmost to make sure they are not seen at each other throats in public again. Anything that comes from the big two will be constituency-directed platitudes and nothing more than that.
What if an IRA member is unhappy with the peace process- Can he commit a violent act just to bring down the institutions? Surely this is the logic if you follow MEP Jim Allister's rule that the IRA is responsible for all their members' actions. Surely it depends on whether the act is sanctioned?
Whether a 'political' murder or a 'criminal' one, a tragedy just the same. Obviously, if it is the former, the implications are more widespread. Sad.
Mark
MONAGHAN MURDER ADVANCES ROBINSON鈥橲 PROJECT
Everyone agrees that the ghastly murder in Monagahan on Saturday evening could radically alter the political landscape. Here鈥檚 my take on the situation.
In the coming weeks this savage act might result in events moving even more quickly in favour of Peter Robinson鈥檚 Project to dismantle the current mandatory coalition than even he could have anticipated. Let鈥檚 recap briefly on how far Robinson鈥檚 Project had progressed by the end of last week. Questioning the legality of Margaret Ritchie鈥檚 decision on the CTI was his most publicly stage-managed step towards fulfilling his ambition. By using Ritchie鈥檚 decision as a cover to create confusion and uncertainty around Executive collective responsibility he was aiming to make her position untenable and force the SDLP out of the Executive. If Robinson were to succeed, his next step would be to work towards the same result with the two UUP Ministers, leaving the DUP as the biggest Party in a two-Party coalition (Alliance would stay in opposition). Thereafter, Robinson鈥檚 thoughts would have focused on how to bury Sinn Fein.
Before Saturday evening, Robinson believed that getting Sinn Fein out of the Executive would be a tricky and long-term proposition, mainly for two reasons. Firstly, Sinn Fein would hold on to their Ministerial posts tighter than barnacles to a boat鈥檚 bottom because they had nowhere else to go. They had burned all bridges back to true Republicanism when they abandoned core principles to get their snouts in the British trough.
Secondly, the British would not have countenanced any structural change to the mandatory coalition arrangement in the early years of its existence. Tony Blair always wanted his legacy to be a resolution of the Irish Problem and he and Gordon Brown believe that was achieved with the establishment of the Assembly. They repeatedly cite the Assembly as an exemplar of how divided societies can coalesce peacefully and it is being hawked as such across the World. The Blair legacy must live on!
As mentioned earlier, Robinson could not have predicted the events in Monaghan that have given such impetus to his Project. For the moment, he will suspend his campaign of undermining the SDLP and UUP and see where the blame for Monaghan is pointing. If it is proven that the IRA were involved there would be two choices for Robinson:
1. Choose Political Expediency: Following the lead of successive Secretaries of State, he could accept the Murder as IRA internal housekeeping pour encourager les autres. In turn, as a quid pro quo, he could extract key concessions from SF e.g. don鈥檛 create a fuss about the Giant鈥檚 Causeway; give full support to his 2008 Budget proposals, forget about the Maze Shrine, support retention of academic selection; forget about Gerry Kelly being a Justice Minister; don鈥檛 ape the SDLP by raising awkward questions about the Speaker鈥檚 competence; cut down on Irish lingo in the Chamber; and undermine that woman Ritchie every chance you get.
OR
2. Seek to expel SF from the Executive: He would think deeply that there might never again be a better reason for ousting Sinn Fein. Neutering McGuinness & Co would confirm him as the undisputed Assembly Numero Uno in all but name. Everyone knows that Paisley鈥檚 role is titular rather than active and it鈥檚 only a matter of time before Robinson is formally crowned as First Minister (Paisley can鈥檛 live forever, can he?).
The arguments in support of either choice are finely balanced. The majority of the DUP would plump for Choice 1 because it would provide frequent opportunities to humiliate and bait SF in the Chamber. Robinson would also relish those opportunities to beat up on Sinn Fein, but he is not given to emotional responses at the expense of self-aggrandisement. For him, the only prize worth having is to be Assembly 眉ber-F眉hrer and Choice 2 is route one to his goal. I am in little doubt that Robinson would eyeball Gordon Brown in Downing Street and threaten to collapse the institutions unless Sinn Fein were expelled from the Executive. Faced with a Stormont Armageddon and an unblinking Robinson, I think the British might yield to his demand. Ergo, Game, Set & Match to the DUP or more correctly to Peter 鈥淕reedy Garden Seller鈥 Robinson.
Of course Sinn Fein wouldn鈥檛 take all this lying down. I don鈥檛 want to alarm anyone, but I can see St Andrews, Mark II on the horizon.
Susie
Carryduff
Corporate responsibility pre-supposes that the body exists and interfaces with the external world while expressing its behaviour and nature toward others. The recent mention by Jeffrey Donaldson of corporate murder can only happen if Sinn Fein/IRA still exist as a holistic organisation. Do some of our glossy covered politicans have a heart felt instinct that informs them differently to their talking heads?
Mark
POLITICAL RESPONSE TO MONAGHAN MURDER DEMEANS VICTIM
Further to my post of 24 October: 鈥淢ONAGHAN MURDER ADVANCES ROBINSON鈥橲 PROJECT鈥 I hold my hands up and, with some embarrassment, admit that I was mistaken about what Robinson鈥檚 tactics would be in the wake of the Monaghan Murder. I was wrong-footed completely by his speedy willingness to believe that the IRA Leadership did not sanction the Murder. It was all the more unexpected because the early evidence was clearly pointing towards significant IRA involvement, notably:
1/ The Victim鈥檚 family issued a statement that the IRA were responsible, which is highly unusual in light of the fact that the organisation holds the South Armagh/North Louth area in a vice-like grip.
2/ The Murder bore all the hallmarks of IRA internal housekeeping, i.e. sustained brutality inflicted on the Victim and witnesses allowed to live, but terrorised and given a good kickin鈥, so that a reminder of who was in charge would go out to the community.
3/ Many of the 鈥渂roadsheets鈥 were uninhibited in carrying articles manifestly apportioning blame for the Murder to the South Armagh Provisional IRA. The following extracts from the Observer (28 October) give a flavour of the pattern of reportage:
鈥淭wo young South Armagh republicans have fled to England fearing they will be 'scapegoated' for the murder of Paul Quinn. The Observer has learnt the two were part of the 15-strong gang that killed the 21-year-old during a savage beating at a farm in County Monaghan last weekend. All 15 were members of the Provisional IRA's South Armagh brigade.
The Garda officer said the men's leader, millionaire smuggler Thomas 'Slab' Murphy, was furious that the so-called punishment beating that went wrong has refocused attention on the IRA leader's smuggling empire on the border. Police officers on both sides of the border do not believe that the gang were under orders to kill their victim.鈥
Mark, forgive me if my memory is not what it was, but didn鈥檛 the DUP often contend in the past that Slab Murphy was top honcho in the Army Council? Moreover, didn鈥檛 Dr Paisley recently call for the Army Council to disband?
4/ In the past, Sinn Fein exploited the funerals of Republicans/Nationalists/ Catholics, who had died violently, as public platforms to reinforce the notion of victimhood within their constituency. On this occasion, in the most Republican of areas, there were no Sinn Fein Party representatives at the Victim鈥檚 funeral which, on its own, is a real clincher that there was IRA involvement.
Given First Minister Robinson鈥檚 stance on the matter, who will seek justice for the Victim and his Family? Certainly not elected representatives Here, There or in GB because to do so would threaten the DUP/Sinn Fein Faustian Pact. Certainly not the Garda or PSNI who, taking their cue from their political masters, will expend little effort in tackling the crime.
In short, without the political will there will be no state justice for the Victim and his Family on this Earth. The best that can be offered to Paul Quinn, Age 21, late of Cullyhanna, is R.I.P. Ditto Robert McCartney.
Susie
Carryduff