“the damage to our society and our democracy may already be irreparable..”

An Economist report on the investigation into the killing of Paul Quinn claims that police are following a line of inquiry whereby Quinn “was involved in smuggling diesel, and was killed after unrelated quarrels with men from his village of Cullyhanna.” Not, however, the senior Garda officer quoted in the Observer report where it’s claimed that two men have already fled to England after being told to “take the rap for the Quinn murder”, and claims that all of those responsible for the killing were “members of the Provisional IRA’s South Armagh brigade.” Additionally, David McKittrick in the Independent on Sunday states that “police in the Irish Republic, in particular, made no secret of their intelligence that formerly prominent IRA personnel had killed Paul Quinn.” Also in the Sunday papers, Alan Ruddock takes issue with David Adams’ contention in Friday’s Irish Times, that “Sinn Féin is now as normal as any other political party”, and in his accusation of complicity, “because we have failed to challenge their duplicity”, he echoes the sentiment of Kevin Toolis, writing in 1999, on the response to the murder of Eamon Collins.

Pete Baker