Bayardo atrocity: Relatives' fury at 'sick tribute' to killer IRA bomber on eve of 50th anniversary
Grieving relatives of a teenage girl killed by the IRA in a bomb atrocity have slammed a “sick tribute” to one of the terrorists behind it out on the eve of its 50th anniversary.
Tomorrow marks 50 years to the day since IRA men stole the lives of five people in a gun and bomb attack on the Bayardo Pub in the Shankill area of Belfast.
On Sunday night, one of those killers – Brendan ‘Bik’ McFarlane – was publicly honoured at the Feile an Phobail’s closing event, a huge gig in Falls Park. The face of McFarlane, who died earlier this year, was projected onto massive screens while musicians played a song he’d written about IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands.
Coming just as families prepared to mark 50 years since the bomb attack took their loved ones away, the tribute has now been slammed by family of the atrocity’s youngest victim, 17-year-old Linda Boyle.
Said the family in a statement: “We can barely find the words to express how we feel about what happened. It’s absolutely disgusting, especially as the 50th anniversary was only a few days away and those engaged in that sick tribute knew that.
“Why do some within this society continue to stoke the fires, why do they want to continue to hurt the innocent? Haven’t they had their pound of flesh already?
“It’s so depressing that these things happen, and it’s not an isolated incident, almost weekly we see instances of glorification of terrorism and what’s done about it? Brief outrage and then people go back to their own lives and priorities but what of the innocent victims of terrorism? Where do we go?
“We rejoice in how Linda lived and the values she represented, and no-one will ever take that away from us.”
Remebering “a stylish young woman who was caring and friendly” with “a real zest for life”, Linda’s family added: “She would now be of retirement age and would be at a point where she should be relaxing and exploring a further chapter of life, but Linda’s storybook was ended before she got beyond her first chapter.
“For the years we had her, she brought blessings to our family and to the community at large. She might have just been a girl, part of the statistics to others, but to our family she was extraordinary. She was so special to us and her murder destroyed so much in our family. Her murder extinguished so much joy, never to be fully replaced.”
The 1975 bombing killed five people including Linda, and injured more than 50 others. The following year McFarlane, who led the IRA unit but stayed behind the wheel of a car while two men opened fire on the pub’s door staff before planting the bomb, was sentenced to life in prison for his part in the atrocity.
Sunday night’s tribute, photos and video of which were posted on the Feile’s social media accounts, was described as “cruel and crass” by Kenny Donaldson from victims group the South East Fermanagh Foundation.
“Those involved will have been very aware of what they were doing and that makes this all the more shameful,” he said. “The Bayardo bombing was a brutal, sectarian-motivated attack that left a trail of destruction behind it.”