Mary’s murder ‘wasn’t a mistake’
PACEMAKER BELFAST 2/6/2011 Mary McArdle, OF SINN FEIN WHO HAS SAID THAT THE 1984 MURDER OF MARY TRAVERS WAS A TERRIBLE TRAGEDY. Mary McArdle was part of an IRA gang who ambushed magistrate Tom Travers and his family as they left Mass. Ms McArdle told the Andersonstown News - in her first public comments since she was appointed as special adviser to Culture Minister Caral Ni Chuilin - that she regretted that it happened and she did not believe anything she said could ease the family's grief. "If I were to begin to describe the specific context of conflict I would be accused of trying to justify her death, and I have no wish to do that."
THE sister of IRA murder victim Mary Travers voiced her anger yesterday at an interview given by her killer – now a Sinn Fein special adviser at Stormont.
Mary McArdle – whose appointment has caused a storm of controversy – told the Andersonstown News that the killing was “a tragic mistake”.
But an emotional Ann Travers denounced Sinn Fein, demanding that they remove Ms McArdle from the post.
And former DUP leader Lord Bannside, writing in today’s News Letter, has called for political parties, as well as the victims commissioners, to listen to Ann.
“In this present very public debate between a woman whose sister was murdered and those who have chosen to appoint someone responsible for what occurred on that Sunday morning, everyone is listening,” he said.
“But it is the ears of Sinn Fein and every other political party that sits at the executive table that need to be open. “Furthermore, the four victims commissioners have eight ears between them, but it would seem access to no mouth.
“If the appointment of one special adviser has become the story of this newly-appointed executive rather than any other thing, then the executive right now needs to regain control and respect the mandate which put it there.”
Ann’s sister, 23-year-old Mary Travers, was shot dead and her father was injured as they left mass at St Brigid’s Church, off the Malone Road, in 1984.
Ann said the gunmen also turned on her mother but their weapon jammed.
Ms McArdle was convicted of the murder after being found in possession of two guns hidden under her skirt. She was given a life sentence but was released under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.
Ann was 14 at the time of her older sister’s murder.
Yesterday morning, she was tearful as she spoke on BBC Radio Ulster and on U105 of the hurt caused to her family by how Ms McArdle described her sister’s murder as a “tragic mistake” in the Andersonstown News.
“Mistake? Mistake? My sister was murdered,” she said.
“There were two gunmen, one standing over my dad shooting him and one who shot my sister in the back and attempted to murder my mother but the bullets jammed in the gun.
“The fact that she calls my sister’s murder a mistake, well, that day two gunmen went with two guns, so if they were just planning to kill my dad, why did they go out with two guns, they knew my dad wasn’t armed.
“After 27 years I’d have thought I’d be able to speak about my sister’s murder factually and without grief but when I heard of Mary McArdle’s appointment last Thursday it did something to me which I just have not been able to contain the grief it brought back.
“Rather than Mary McArdle and Sinn Fein saying her death was a mistake, what they should be saying is Mary Travers’ murder is an embarrassment which has come back to haunt them.”
Speaking to the News Letter yesterday afternoon, Ann said her fight has been lonely since none of the mainstream parties have backed her by calling for Ms McArdle to resign.
“It is time that politicians said something,” she said.
“Politicians are there to serve all the people in Northern Ireland not just themselves.
“These appointments to the post of special adviser should also be looked at, they should be advertised and the person best qualified for the job should be appointed, not just someone who is friends with the minister.
“It would be no great shame for politicians to change their stance and do a U-turn now. If Northern Ireland is to be held up as an example for other countries across the world, this would be a great point to make.”
While most politicians have stayed out of the controversy, Ann said the messages of support she has received from the general public have lifted her.
“I have to say I feel quite exhausted but it is so lovely to hear all the messages of support for my family,” she said.
“I was surprised by the amount of media coverage and all the interest, I know there are people who do not agree with me but it’s Mary keeps me going – Mary and my father because they cannot speak up so I am doing it for them.”
Ann did not live in Northern Ireland in 1998 when the Good Friday Agreement was voted through on a referendum. She said she and her family had reservations about the prisoners being released but backed it because the majority of people here had supported the accord.
“But there comes a point when you have to say enough is enough,” she said.
“It’s just the absolute arrogance and insensitivity of Mary McArdle’s appointment, she says she knew it was going to cause upset but she was delighted to accept the job anyway. Why did she do that?
“My sister didn’t even get to finish her first year of work, they were telling my father he should not work, yet Mary McArdle is delighted about her new job.
“Twenty-seven years ago when my sister was murdered that was an action so it is now time for another action, for Mary McArdle to resign, words are not enough.”
Ann has also rejected the republican assertion that her father was part of the “British war machine”.
“My father was a resident magistrate and anyone who knew Tom Travers and his work knew that it was burglaries, public order offences, shop lifting. Yes, he did remand prisoners but that was only a small part of his job,” she said.
“People have rung me up and said that their child had appeared in front of him and that he’d treated them as individuals unlike others on the bench.”
Mrs Travers has also spoken of her disappointment at receiving no support from the main political parties.
On Tuesday, TUV leader Jim Allister was the only one of the 108 MLAs to push for a discussion on Ms McArdle’s appointment as special adviser, but his request was rejected by speaker William Hay.
Ann has been speaking from the heart for the last week in scores of interviews painfully reliving her sister’s murder but yesterday she said she feels let down that no politicians – aside from Mr Allister – have bothered to back her by calling for Ms McArdle to resign.
Mr Allister yesterday described the lack of support received by Ann as “disgusting”.
TUV leader and former barrister Mr Allister remembers magistrate Travers as diligent and compassionate from his early days in court.
“He treated everything in a thorough way, when you appeared before him he was a man who showed compassion, particularly to those who had had a hard time in life,” he said.
“He was not punitive when he didn’t need to be – what a contrast to those who murdered his daughter and attempted to murder him and his wife.”
The News Letter contacted the Victims Commissioners yesterday for a response to Lord Bannside’s comment but at time of press last night they had not submitted a reaction.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Belfast
Tuesday 29 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Light showers
Temperature: 12 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South
