Letter: Secretary of state Hilary Benn needs to clarify his view on Michelle O’Neill attending IRA terror memorial

The secretary of state’s voice must be heard.

While some of us called out Michelle O’Neill’s attendance at the Remembrance Service in Belfast as merely a PR stunt that lacked any substance and sincerity, others welcomed the move.

Some attempted to demonise us as being cynical, uncharitable and even anti-peace.

Many innocent victims/survivors were clear that she would soon be standing at a commemoration event for those who had sought to murder others, regrettably but entirely predictably this has now proven right.

Among those who welcomed the then move by Ms O’Neill was the secretary of state, Hilary Benn. Does the secretary of state for Northern Ireland welcome this move by Ms O’Neill at this Provisional IRA commemoration held between Toome and Magherafelt?

Or does he condemn such an act that commemorates members of PIRA whose intent that day was to murder her late majesty’s subjects, many of whom stood against such evil acts in the defence of peace?

I believe that the secretary of state Hilary Benn needs to provide an answer and if he condemns this act, will he then ensure that Westminster legislation is developed which insists upon an ethical code being enshrined which debars members of the Northern Ireland executive and wider Stormont assembly from celebrating or commemorating terrorism?

Some are seeking to portray this issue as a matter of equality, that all have the right to remember their dead, they have sought to equate the terrorists remembered and eulogised by Michelle O’Neill with the legitimate security force members murdered throughout the years of the terrorist campaign.

My father Thomas Irwin and Uncle Frederick Irwin were murdered by the Provisional IRA. Let me emphatically state, never will republican or loyalist terrorists be viewed in the same breath as my father and uncle and so many others – we won’t ever allow it, and we implore those who know better to stop the appeasement of those who pursue this campaign of equation.

Rev Canon Alan Irwin, Main Street, Lack