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ANDRÉE MURPHY: Cairns double murder case shows that on legacy, PSNI and RUC are no different

THIS week marks the 27th anniversary of the killings of Gerard and Rory Cairns in their home outside Lurgan. It was their sister Roisín’s 11th birthday and the family had just had a party in their home. Their mother and father, Sheila and Eamon, had nipped out to their Gaeilge rang. Armed loyalists came into the house. Roisín saw them first and one of them looked her in the eye and put a finger to his mouth to tell her to be quiet. She was 11 and thought it must be a Halloween trick. They then opened fire, killing Rory, aged 18, and Gerard, aged 22. It is too difficult to imagine that scene and the aftermath that Eamon and Sheila came back to. Even at a time of escalated loyalist killings these deaths shocked and outraged. And that was that. For the past 27 years, apart from when Eamon and those who support him speak publicly, nothing official has been done to address this outrage through investigation and pursuit of justice. Why? Because at least one state agent was involved in planning, executing and covering up the events in the Slopes, Bleary on October 28, 1993.

ANDRÉE MURPHY: Poots’ rancid Covid sideshow deeply damaging

THE political response to the latest rise in incidences of Covid-19 on this island has been ill conceived and lacking in coherence. Two weeks ago, south of the border the once venerated Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan returned from a leave of absence to care for his ill wife to recommend that the southern 26 counties move to Level 5 restrictions. This advice was leaked, manipulated in the media, dismissed at a cabinet meeting, and to top it all Leo Varadkar trashed the reputation of Mr Holohan on live television. It all left a very bad taste in most decent people’s mouths. Last night Mr Holohan’s judgement was vindicated as a “national” lock down was announced by a sombre Taoiseach, who in fairness to him acknowledged the weariness of a population, if not taking any responsibility for it. Of course, the south’s CMO will take no pleasure in that vindication. It means that there are people who will die in the coming weeks who might not had the measures been taken earlier and on his advice. And it means Level 5 will last for six weeks instead of four as was also first recommended. In the north we have fared little better. As the rates of Covid have soared the political response has been clumsy and faltering. We know that at the heart of this has been the reluctance of the DUP to see any significant measures, and once Westminster announced that they would provide (limited) funding for workers who had to stay at home and businesses forced to close, they had no hiding place, so the four weeks of measures were introduced. Sadly, almost as soon as the ink was dry on the regulations the briefing against them began.

OPINION - ANDRÉE MURPHY: George Floyd murder is a legacy of empire

WHEN George Floyd’s murder was captured on camera and broadcast across the world the reaction was not only to his own torturous suffocation under the knee of a police officer and the other officers who were complicit. The reaction was a global shudder that reached across 300 years of slavery and its consequences. We witnessed a rising up against not only a modern state’s actions but against the treatment of people of colour across the globe since white Europeans took to the seas with their flags and their ‘commerce’. Black Lives Matter spoke to the legacy of colonialism in an unprecedented way. George Floyd was not an individual, and his murder not a single act. The taking of George Floyd’s life was the legacy of the murderous raids on Western African nations and the enslavement of millions of people.

OPINION - Andrée Murphy: Now collusion’s been granted a legal mandate

ON December 12, 2012, British Prime Minister David Cameron stood up in the House of Commons and apologised to the family of Patrick Finucane for “shocking levels of collusion”. The statement was prompted by the report by Desmond de Silva QC into the killing of Mr Finucane. While the review was heavily criticised by the Finucane family, as it replaced the long-committed to public inquiry, it’s worth reading to understand the extent of collusion as a British policy objective. De Silva outlines “a complex variety of committees and postings (that) came into existence in order to co-ordinate the work of the intelligence agencies”. These are not only relevant to the killing of Patrick Finucane but demonstrate the interaction of the military, the political, the operational and the strategic.

ANDRÉE MURPHY: How long can our young people and students take this?

IF this was Paris the place would be in flames. I can’t get over the patience and resilience of our young people, especially those going to college or university. Do you remember in the run up to St Patrick’s Day when everyone was directing their angst at students and demanding they put their funny hats, inflatable green hammers and barrack busters away in the interest of public health? And they did that. Remember how the same young people endured lock down at home with parents, still paying their tuition fees and all of their rent, despite their digs being empty for months? And they did that. Remember how they were told not to congregate, not to see boyfriends and girlfriends or mates, and to sit at home playing Tic Toc with their siblings and parents? And they did it.Remember how despite their employment being low paid, zero houred, and with non-trade unionised conditions they were asked to continue to pack shelves, mop floors and keep the place running while others made sour dough? And they did it. How they sat final exams in their bedrooms, got degrees in their kitchens, forwent leavers’ dos, first holidays with friends and generally surpassed their duties as citizens? What did we do in return? We turned them into animals in a zoo. We have told those we call the brightest of their generation that they can be turned into the brunt of all frustrations and vilified and even criminalised while the entirety of society struggles with consistency or adequacy of policy making in the face of the pandemic. In August and September students were told to go back to college, that their mad fees, anything from £4-9grand will have to be paid, but they would get face to face education. What happened? They are getting online classes, without a reduction in fees. They were told to cough up and pay for college accommodation, anything from £3-5grand for the year, some of it pretty nasty and disgusting. And now they are told they can be made prisoners in said accommodation.

OPINION - ANDRÉE MURPHY: Commissions have become dinosaurs roaring in city centre offices

I WILL vociferously defend the Good Friday Agreement in all of its parts to the death, but I recognise there is one part of the compromise document we must question and review. Where there are issues of unresolved contest the GFA sets up Commissions. And as we saw in January’s bad joke book, New Decade New Approach, it seems to be a hard habit to break. Victims of institutional abuse? Give them a Commissioner. Veterans suffering PTSD? Give them a Commissioner. And so it goes on. Commissioners, Champions and Tsars. They come in such predictable guises of Good, Bad and Ugly that Ennio Moricone could have written a theme song for them. I know that some of the participants in 1998 had to sell the ideas of human rights and equality. And some of the participants were not keen. So these halfway houses were demonstrable commitments to rights. But have they worked? Or are they self-perpetuating and expensive monoliths getting in the way of authentic campaigners for rights?

OPINION - ANDRÉE MURPHY: UK’s contempt for rule of law has brought us here

THE British government’s contempt for law in their treatment of the bereaved should have been a portent of their treatment of international law when engaging with the Brexit Withdrawal Treaty. When Theresa and Hugh Jordan walked into the Relatives for Justice offices on May, 2001, they knew that they had made history. They’d challenged the British government in the European Court of Human Rights regarding the RUC killing of their son Pearse. Their case, along with other families affected by state violence and collusion, was that the British government failed in its duties to independently investigate the killings. At a packed RFJ press conference in An Chultúrlann, the families were asked to respond to the statement by the British government that day that this was “merely a procedural matter”. Mairéad Kelly, whose brother was killed at Loughgall, raised an eyebrow and said: “It was procedure relating to my brother’s right to life.” In the 19 years since that judgment the families, and particularly the Jordans, have been forced to return to domestic courts and to the Council of Europe, which supervises European Court judgments, every six months to explain to the Committee of Ministers how the British government still disregards international law relating to citizens’ right to life.

OPINION - ANDRÉE MURPHY: Border poll divisive? That argument’s shredded

THE statement by British Secretary of State Brandon Lewis that the British government’s intentions are to break international law as part of their reneging on the EU Withdrawal Agreement is a Rubicon crossed. A Rubicon that divides Britain from a place of law, scrutiny and accountability to pariah state. A state where no rules any longer apply. That may well suit Brexiteer MPs and the cowboys with vested interests behind them, but we on this island truly live in a different place. The majority of our population voted overwhelmingly for the Good Friday Agreement. This peace agreement was an historic compromise based on international law. The associated constitutional status quo was possible because of the voters’ compromise to accept majority consent. The union with Britain since 1998 is maintained as a result of commitment to international law and majority consent. The two go hand in hand.

Coming Covid changes might save our city

OFFICE workers are being told to go back to offices, irrespective of workers’ or organisational remote working efficiency or productivity. All in order to keep the city centre alive. It’s like dismissing the diesel train because steam trains need men to shovel coal. This long-out-of-date thinking ignores a modern population’s realities and risks missing the opportunity for progressive city change.

OPINION – ANDRÉE MURPHY: Tough decisions on victims’ payments lie ahead

THE letter of Westminster Law has meant that Michelle O’Neill must accede to designating a Stormont department to administrate the injured victims’ payment scheme. She had delayed doing this due to issues of eligibility to and financing of the scheme, issues which remain unresolved.

OPINION - ANDRÉE MURPHY: Police Ombudsman not given the necessary tools

THE new Police Ombudsman is a woman of substance. In her former role as the Public Services Ombudsman she was renowned as a tough cookie, being fastidious about due process. She also held the statutory offices of Local Government Commissioner for Standards and Judicial Appointments Ombudsman. She knows about processes of accountability, and she knows where people go to hide from accountability.

No new language needed for old memories

THE Covid culture has brought words into our vocabularies that this time last year we could never have imagined we would use so frequently, or easily.

OPINION - Andrée Murphy: Time to decommission the Victims' Commission?

THE news that Victims Commissioner Judith Thompson will not have her contract extended caused a mild flurry of media attention when announced last week. Of course, even a cursory look at the teacup’s storm would have recognised that Ms Thompson had already had her four-year term extended and another extension was unlikely.

OPINION – ANDRÉE MURPHY: If people were shocked when Stormont collapsed, they should have their eyes wide open

FRANCIE Molloy MP is a long-standing Sinn Féin activist. He is not a controversial figure within Sinn Féin. The only time he was publicly out of step with the party was in 2015 when he was vocal with a worry about the new super councils. He was suspended from the party for two short months, but everyone seemed happy when he returned. So it was a surprise when he tweeted this week that nationalists had been “sold a pup” with the Good Friday Agreement.

Cropped no fee taoiseach post cabinet press briefing jb3

OPINION - ANDRÉE MURPHY: Meaningless sloganising by Taoiseach Martin just doesn't cut it

I SEE our new Taoiseach thinks that the Good Friday Agreement settled the constitutional question. It’s an interesting interpretation of a compromise for peace after 800 years of conflict.

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ANDRÉE MURPHY: Cairns double murder case shows that on legacy, PSNI and RUC are no different

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Andrée Murphy

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