Letter: What exactly are paramilitaries proud of? It's time to face up to our sick past and challenge those who want to chain us to it

A letter from Trevor Ringland:
By Letters
Published 5th Jul 2023, 00:01 BST
Updated 5th Jul 2023, 11:02 BST
Flowers at the scene of the IRA bombing at Teebane crossroads, between Omagh and Cookstown, in 1992. A roadside bomb destroyed a van carrying 14 construction workers who had been repairing a British Army base in Omagh. Eight of the men were killed and the rest were woundedFlowers at the scene of the IRA bombing at Teebane crossroads, between Omagh and Cookstown, in 1992. A roadside bomb destroyed a van carrying 14 construction workers who had been repairing a British Army base in Omagh. Eight of the men were killed and the rest were wounded
Flowers at the scene of the IRA bombing at Teebane crossroads, between Omagh and Cookstown, in 1992. A roadside bomb destroyed a van carrying 14 construction workers who had been repairing a British Army base in Omagh. Eight of the men were killed and the rest were wounded

The latest IRA commemoration showed that the republican movement is determined to take pride in what it did during an unnecessary 30-year campaign, designed to bomb and murder people into accepting its political objectives.

I wonder what in particular it is proud of?

The murder of Lord Justice Gibson and his wife? The death toll almost included my friends, the Hannah family, Teebane, La Mon and so many more? The Kingsmill massacre, which was one of the South Armagh brigade’s most infamous atrocities? Killing six innocent people and injuring 33 more, 50 years ago in Coleraine?

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Or maybe it was the businesses that they wrecked and the thousands of young nationalists who needlessly went to prison.

And then also the question as to what they were trying to achieve, bearing in mind the genuine issues highlighted by the civil rights movement were largely addressed or being resolved by the late sixties/early seventies. As one former republican prisoner stated to me, when I raised the point, “It was about driving the British into the sea!” Political murders inspired by a deeply flawed politics that destroyed relationships with one million of their fellow Irish, who also happen to be British, rather than building them.

In the same way, loyalist paramilitaries are adorning our towns with flags and exhibiting pride, as they see it, in defending unionists through their murderous activities. Are they really proud of the senseless slaughter they perpetuated at Sean Graham’s bookmakers, the activities of the Shankill Butchers, Greysteel and, again, so many more?

It’s time to get serious about our future. That includes facing up to our sick past and challenging those who want to chain us to it.

Trevor Ringland, Bangor

Related topics:Trevor RinglandIRAColeraine