Mary Lou McDonald has praised an IRA killer for his dedication to “peace”, sparking condemnation.

Her message was dubbed “so insulting it is hard to put into words” by TUV councillor Ron McDowell, and Troubles victims campaigner Kenny Donaldson has demanded Sinn Fein cease “revelling” in past criminality.

Writing on X (Twitter), the Sinn Fein president had said on Saturday: “One year ago, we lost our comrade, Bik McFarlane.

"He dedicated his life to the pursuit of freedom, unity, peace and equality.

placeholder image — Brendan 'Bik' McFarlane was a leading member of the IRA in Belfast, who died last year - Mary Lou McDonald has praised his contribution to 'peace'

"It was a life well lived, a life that shaped a legacy that will inspire generations to come.”

Brendan ‘Bik’ McFarlane was one of the team behind the Bayardo Bar attack in 1975, when the IRA bombed and shot up the pub on the loyalist Shankill Road in Belfast.

According to the book Lost Lives, all five of the people killed in that attack 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”.

Councillor McDowell, who is also deputy leader of the TUV, said: “The man who played a leading role in the Bayardo Bar gun and bomb attack which murdered five people including a young teenage girl was not someone who ‘decided his life to peace and equality’.

“His legacy is one of heartbreak, terror and disregard for the most basic kind of equality – the right to go about one’s lawful business without being shot or blown up.

"Having represented families of those impacted by the Bayardo Bar attack I know exactly how they feel.

“This is yet another graphic demonstration of the fact that Sinn Fein are unfit for government and show utter contempt for what would be regarded as basic standards of morality and decency.”

Mr Donaldson, director of the South East Fermanagh Foundation, said: “Committing murder against your neighbour is not ‘living life well.’

"Our concern is with those innocents whose family members were stolen from them due to Brendan 'Bik' McFarlane’s actions, carried out in the name of Provisional Irish Republican ideology.”

He added that “continuing to revel in these criminal actions or in minimising or airbrushing their effects” amounts to “psychological torture” of IRA victims.

"Stop hurting people who have already been hurt beyond measure,” he added.

McFarlane was given five life sentences for the Bayardo attack, but later got a royal pardon.

He went on to help lead the Maze breakout, and allegedly the kidnapping of supermarket executive Don Tidey in the Republic (in which the IRA killed two rescuers).