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Fianna Fáil calls on Conor Murphy to resign over Paul Quinn remarks GE2020
Breege Quinn, mother of Mrl Quinn, has called on Mr Murphy to go to the PSNI with the names of people in the IRA he spoke to in the aftermath of the killing. Mr Murphy on Wednesday retracted and apologised for comments he made in the immediate aftermath of the murder .
The Sinn Féin MLA said at the time he had spoken with IRA members in Cullyhanna, Co Armagh, where the Quinn family live, and was assured the IRA was not involved. When asked had he any evidence for the original comments Mr Murphy told RTÉ, “I am not going to go into what the evidence was or wasn’t at the time. The fact is that regardless of what my view was at the time those remarks added to the grief of a family. It was the wrong thing to do at the time.” Asked was it his view that Mr Quinn had been involved in criminal activity Mr Murphy said he accepted there was no evidence to link him to such criminality. Mr Quinn’s parents, Breege and Stephen, said the reason they did not accept Mr Murphy’s apology and still wanted him to resign was because he had not said their son was not a criminal. They have called on him to give the names of the IRA members he spoke with to the PSNI. Mr Murphy has said he has already met the PSNI about Mr Quinn’s murder. “If they feel they have anything helpful to add to their inquiries, I will happily meet them at any stage,” Mr Murphy said. Sinn Féin, however, has rejected the Quinns’ interpretation and insisted Mr Murphy’s statement met their demands. A Sinn Féin spokesman pointed to how Mr Murphy in his statement said: “I apologise for those remarks and I unreservedly withdraw them.” The spokesman stressed Mr Murphy as well as apologising had unreservedly withdrawn his initial comments. Elsewhere former Minister for Justice Michael McDowell joined Sinn Féin’s other political opponents by attacking the party over its handling of the Quinn family’s ordeal. Mr Murphy should resign as the North’s finance minister for refusing to retract his remarks for more than a decade, said Mr McDowell. “I think he should [resign],” he told RTÉ’s Today with Sean O’Rourke. “Because he was appealed to for the last 12 years to withdraw those remarks, to exonerate this innocent victim of Provo savagery and he refused point blank to do it.” Sinn Féin had “put it around” that Mr Quinn was involved in criminality – which was “wholly untrue”, said Mr McDowell. “The simple fact is that Conor Murphy has for the last 12 years, despite being appealed to weekly and monthly, by the Quinn family to retract that slur on their son, he has refused point blank to do it.” Mr Murphy only apologised “under massive pressure” when party leader Ms McDonald “made a mess of the issue on television”, said Mr McDowell. “He is the man who would not change, would not budge, would not retract until he saw votes going out the window in the Republic”, he added. Mr McDowell also said the killing was carried out by members of the IRA. “There is no doubt about it,” he said.
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