No action 230 days after ‘blatant’ law-breaking at republican funeral – DUP man says the ‘only conclusion’ is PSNI treats SF differently

Francie McNally, who was twice elected a councillor for the party in east Tyrone during the 1980s, was buried on April 8 – the first big republican funeral gathering of the pandemic.

Photographs showed a significant number of people watching the procession take place, and police said at the time there was “blatant” flouting of the law.

However the News Letter has established that the PSNI still have not concluded their investigation into the event, 230 days (roughly seven-and-a-half months) after the funeral was held.

The revelation comes after it was revealed last week that police had yet to interview Michelle O’Neill, one of the key attendees at the funeral of Bobby Storey on June 30, despite the passage of time since that mass gathering in west Belfast.

Trevor Clarke, one of the DUP members of the Policing Board, said the issue is likely to come up at next Thursday’s meeting of the Policing Board.

He said the lack of action over the McNally funeral was “a very worrying development”, and he would have expected it to have been dealt with by now.

“There’s many funerals I’ve stayed away from because I’d be in breach of the regulations”, he said.

“There’s a perception now sections of the public, of the community, were treated differently. What doesn’t give any confidence is that the first case which happened hasn’t come to a conclusion.

“It draws you to the question: what is the delay, and when are we going to see an outcome? There’s only one way to perceive this – Sinn Fein and their representatives are being treated with kid gloves for fear of any form of backlash.”

At the time of the funeral, Superintendent Mike Baird, Mid Ulster District commander, said before the McNally funeral police “engaged with the family of the deceased, and with the local priest, to stress the public health advice and risks around Covid-19 and the requirement for social distancing to be adhered to”.

He went on: “The family had assured us that only family members would be in attendance, and that local people may pay their respects as the funeral cortege passed, by coming out into their gardens or the front of their homes.

“It’s very disappointing to see some people blatantly ignored health advice and breached current legislation by attending the funeral... a file is being prepared for the PPS”.

And asked what the latest is on the case this week, the PSNI said: “A file is being prepared for the PPS and will be submitted in due course.”

Legally-binding regulations which had come into force on March 28 said the only people who could attend funerals were “a member of the person’s household” or “a close family member” – or, if neither of those groups is attending, a friend can do so.

Short of those specific groups being allowed to attend funerals, the regulations said virtually all other gatherings of more than two people were banned.

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