New books on sectarian nature of IRA campaign: author Ken Funston speaks about what 'sucked him into this work' to begin with
Dr Ken Funston, whose PhD writings helped to inform his new book about the IRA campaign on the border, has spoken about what "sucked me into this type of work" to begin with.
He was speaking at the launch of ‘The Northern Ireland Conflict on the Margins of History’ on Monday night at Ulster University’s Belfast campus (a book which he co-authored with Dr Cillian McGrattan).
One of the figures to blame for part of the borderland violence was now-dead IRA man Ciaran Fleming (sometimes spelt Kieran), said Dr Funston.
He was a Maze escapee who had murdered Linda Baggley, a 19-year-old police reservist who was shot in Londonderry city in 1976 (and whose father, a police reservist too, had also been shot dead by the IRA almost at exactly the same spot two-and-a-half years prior).
Fleming, following his escape in 1983, "resumed his murderous activities," ending up in east Donegal "with an Army Council directive to cause mayhem in north Fermanagh, which at that stage had become rather benign as far as militant republicanism was concerned".
Fleming and his gang crossed the border just south of Pettigo on the morning of March 13, 1984, with help of "a local guide".
"They waited for Ronnie Funston, my brother," said Dr Funston, pausing as a wave of emotion caught him.
"Ronnie was going out to feed his cattle and they shot him in the back as he sat on the tractor. Our mother heard the shooting and ran to the scene, but her son had already died.
"She saw the two gunmen running up the field towards the border cheering their evil deed."
Mr Funston said he was faced with options, including taking revenge himself.
He decided not to, and instead joined the police so that he could "help our divided society" to "fight the scourge of terrorism from whatever quarter".
Dr Funston said it can be "somewhat depressing" seeing the "disgusting or dismissive comments" that appear whenever a news story about his work is published.
"They want us to shut up and go away," he said.
He added that, given so many people believe that the IRA campaign was valid, “reconciliation” is "essentially is a buzzword without meaning... we still as a society have a long way to go".