"We regret the eulogising of him by today’s leaders within Sinn Fein": Victims' group hit out at praise of IRA figure Brendan 'Bik' McFarlane

Kenny Donaldson, director of victims' group SEFF, said his concern over the last few days has been with McFarlane’s victims.

McFarlane had been one of the IRA team behind the Bayardo Bar attack in 1975, when the IRA bombed and shot up the pub on the loyalist Shankill Road in Belfast.

According to the book Lost Lives, all five of the people killed in that attack were Protestant civilians, ranging in age from 17 to 63.

Furthermore, he was the officer in command of the H-Block prisoners during the 1981 hunger strike over conditions in the Maze.

He was also one of the central figures involved in the 1983 Maze breakout, during which IRA prisoners rose up and shot and stabbed their guards, with 38 of them escaping.

He was later recaptured with fellow escapee Gerry Kelly in The Netherlands.

After his death was announced on Friday following a short illness, Mr Kelly said McFarlane was a "republican activist all his life" who "gave all that he had to the struggle for a united Ireland."

Meanwhile, Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald paid tribute to McFarlane as "a great patriot who lived his life for the freedom and unity of Ireland".

Kenny Donaldson said the plaudits for McFarlane by Sinn Fein show the party are "inextricably linked to the actions and outcomes of The Provisional IRA."

He added: "Brendan McFarland is directly responsible for the deaths of many people and he is indirectly responsible for the deaths of many others given his roles within the Provisional IRA.

"Nowhere in any of the commentary since his death has Sinn Fein expressed regret for the innocent victims who perished through his actions."

He concluded: “Our concern over the last 48 hours has been for the innocents impacted by the choices made by Brendan McFarlane in this life.

“We grieve the way in which he chose to live, the lack of humanity within his heart and we regret the eulogising of him by today’s leaders within Sinn Fein.”

McFarlane's burial service and blessing will take place outside his family home on Tuesday, February 35 at 12 noon followed by burial in Milltown Cemetery at 2pm