IRA victim asks Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald to end 'psychological abuse' after tribute to Brendan 'Bik' McFarlane
A man whose father was killed by a gang he believes was led by IRA man Brenda 'Bik' McFarlane has hit out at Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McFarland for claiming he dedicated his life to peace.
On Saturday Ms McDonald paid tribute to McFarlane a year after his death.
Writing on social media platform X, she said: “One year ago, we lost our comrade, Bik McFarlane. He dedicated his life to the pursuit of freedom, unity, peace and equality. It was a life well lived, a life that shaped a legacy that will inspire generations to come.”
However her comments caused a backlash across the social media platform, prompting almost 500 comments, many of them highly critical.
In 1976, McFarlane was jailed for a gun and bomb attack on the Bayardo Bar on Belfast's Shankill Road, which killed five people and injured 60 others.
He was the leader of IRA prisoners in the Maze during the 1981 hunger strike, where he was serving five life sentences for murder.
McFarlane also led a mass escape of 38 inmates from the prison near Lisburn in 1983.
One prison officer died of a heart attack after being stabbed and six other officers were stabbed or shot during the escape.
Days after his release in 1998, he was arrested and charged in connection with kidnapping supermarket executive Don Tidey in Dublin in 1983.
Mr Tidey was held captive for 23 days by the IRA before he was rescued by gardaí and the Irish army – but not before the IRA shot dead Garda Gary Sheehan and Pte Patrick Kelly.
However, McFarlane was acquitted of charges related to the kidnapping on the grounds that the proceedings against him had been “unreasonably long”.
But Pte Kelly's son, David Kelly, laid down a challenge to Ms McDonald in light of her comments.
“I would ask Mary-Lou McDonald to bring an end to the psychological abuse against innocent victims of Provo terrorism,” he told the News Letter.
“A Brendan McFarlane-led gang murdered my father in Derrads Wood and it destroyed our family, and destroyed individual lives.
“Whilst he engaged in a failed terrorist campaign it is the innocent who will be facing the consequences of McFarlane's actions for generations.”
Former taoiseach Leo Varadkar also hit back at her words, focusing on McFarlane's role in the Bayoardo pub bombing.
“Deliberately bombing a pub (a civilian target) is a war crime and should be acknowledged as such,” he said in response to Ms McDonald on X.
“We should not have a different standard for Irish republicans than we would for the Russian army or the IDF. The case for Irish unification and a new Ireland is not helped by attempts to whitewash history.”
According to the book ‘Lost Lives’, all five of the people killed in the Bayardo Bar attack on the Shankill Road were Protestant civilians, ranging in age from 17 to 63.
The book states that “the attack was carried out by three IRA men who first sprayed people on the road with gunfire from an Armalite rifle before throwing a duffle bag containing a bomb through the open door of the packed pub”.
Kenny Donaldson, director of the South East Fermanagh Foundation, has also challenged Ms McDonald’s tribute. “Committing murder against your neighbour is not ‘living life well’,” he said.