John Cushnahan: The murders of Mathers and McKee - both unjustified and unjustifiable

Their victim was a highly respected, courageous investigative journalist whose death is a huge personal loss to her family and friends and journalistic colleagues.Her murder was condemned by all political leaders including the current leader of Sinn Fein and her immediate predecessor, Gerry Adams.Exactly 38 years ago this month and also in Derry another young woman of the same age was also murdered. Her name was Joanne Mathers. She was a Protestant and a mother of a child aged one (pictured). She was a census enumerator and was deliberately murdered by the IRA because they were opposed to the census taking place in the middle of the 1981 hunger strike. In January 2017 her husband, Lowry, said he could never forgive Martin McGuinness, given his role in Sinn Fein and the IRA, for “destroying his family”. In response to Mr Mathers at the time, Mr McGuinness said “Dealing with the legacy of the past remains one of the key outstanding challenges of our peace process”.In keeping with this sentiment, wouldn’t it be appropriate for Mr Adams and Mary Lou Mc Donald to condemn the unjustified and unjustifiable murder of Joanne Mathers 28 years ago.Furthermore, the best way of ensuring there are no more victims like Lyra McKee and Joanne Mathers is for Sinn Fein and DUP to achieve political agreement and the restoration of powersharing and the primacy of politics over violence. When politics fail, the vacuum is filled by terrorists.

John Cushnahan, ex-Fine Gael MEP & Alliance Party leader