Letter: Sinn Fein say IRA came into being to protect Catholics yet it was killing people long before the civil rights protests

How often have we been told that IRA came into existence to defend the Catholic community in Northern Ireland?

That myth was blown out of the water by Sinn Fein on Sunday when they supported a commemoration for Sean South, who was just one of a group of 14 IRA members who crossed the border on Jan 1st, 1957 in an attempt to murder RUC men in Co Fermanagh.

Mr South died when the RUC defended themselves and fired back.

Over 10 years before the attack on civil rights protestors at Duke Street and 10 years before the attack on the Burntollet march the IRA existed and were engaging in murder.

Over a decade before the Battle of the Bogside, Bloody Sunday or any of the other tragic events used to justify republican violence, the IRA were trying to kill policemen.

That Mr South was deluded enough to waste his life on that attack is sad, especially for his relatives, but his life was lost because politicians perpetuated the myth that killing for Ireland was going to improve this country.

Sadly, even today we still have politicians who claim there was no alternative to violence and while they do so there is still a risk that other deluded young men will follow in Mr South’s footsteps.

Arnold Carton, Belfast BT6