Bloody Friday: scathing reaction to slaughter from Dublin-based paper - ‘we are the cowards who let this happen’

Two days after the atrocity, a front page editorial said the Irish nation had “fostered” those who planted the bombs and “fed them with propaganda”.

Under the headline ‘We are the cowards’ it said: “We live in an age of cowardice, with the guilt spread evenly between the highest and the lowest in the land.

“We fostered the men who planned the murders of innocent men, women, boys and girls in Belfast on Friday; we fed these people with propaganda; and we took advantage, when we could, of their exploits.

“Because we are not a morally courageous people we never seriously tried to stop their terrible excesses.

“Those of us who could have acted to halt the course of tragedy preferred to do nothing; those who could have spoken out, when words might have meant something, chose to hold their tongues, and the rest of us were content to let matters slide.

“We all of us must pay the price for this neglect. There is a black sin on the face of Irish Republicanism today that will never be erased.

“Murder now lies at the feet of the Irish nation and there is no gainsaying the fact.”

The writer goes on to call for a national day of mourning in the Republic for all those “murdered innocents” in the north, with a day’s wages donated to a fund set up to help all those suffering as a result of the terror attacks.

“Have no doubt about it, in years to come we shall be singing alcoholic ballads, and history classes will instruct our grandchildren how a selflessly dedicated group of men and women bravely resisted public opinion and pressed on with their sophisticated political objectives.

“The gallantry of those who planted bombs in the middle of Belfast’s shopping areas on Friday (and then ran like hell) will be sanctified by the almighty god of Irish republicanism and embalmed in what we are pleased to call our national heritage.”

However, the writer said, there would be no one writing a ballad to commemorate the butchered fragments of a woman seen on the television being shovelled up by a fireman.

READ: Day of infamy as civlians became targets in IRA bomb blitz

READ: Media united in revulsion at slaughter of innocents