Skip to main content

Adams calls for release of John Downey and Michael Burns

Image
By


Gerry Adams TD speaking to the media at Leinster House

The arrest and charging by the British police of John Downey and the arrest and charging of Belfast man Michael Burns, is a matter of grave concern and a clear breach of commitments given by the British government at Weston Park and in subsequent negotiations.

Following the Good Friday Agreement both the British and Irish governments accepted that the issue of those defined as OTRs was an anomaly and the two governments committed to resolve the issue.

The OTRs are individuals who, if arrested and convicted, would be eligible for release under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

A process was put in place to deal with outstanding cases. John Downey and Michael Burns were two of these.

Between 150-200 individuals were classed as OTRs – On-the-Runs.  Some of these were individuals who had escaped from prison or jumped bail.

Most were victims of British Army and RUC harassment.

John Downey is a valued member of Sinn Féin and a long-time advocate of the Peace Process. Michael Burns is in poor health.

The decision to arrest and charge both men is malicious. It is also evidence that those British securocrats who have consistently opposed the peace process are still working to undermine it.

The arrest of John Downey and Michael Burns has caused huge anger among republicans.

For over two decades John Downey has been to the fore in promoting the peace process. As a former republican prisoner he has been involved in Cultural Diversity programmes with former loyalist prisoners.

And he participated in engagements at Corrymeela with former members of the Garda and Irish Army.

Coupled with the British government’s refusal to implement outstanding elements of the Good Friday Agreement these arrests provide yet more alarming evidence of David Cameron’s disregard for the Good Friday Agreement processes.
 

Sinn Féin has consistently raised all these matters with the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste.

I wrote to the Tánaiste only yesterday and I am meeting with him today to ask the government to urgently put in place a strategy to keep the British government to its obligations under the Good Friday Agreement.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Turf Lodge – A Proud Community

By
This blog attended a very special celebration earlier this week. It was Turf Lodge: 2010 Anois is Arís 50th Anniversary. For those of you who don’t know Turf Lodge is a proud Belfast working class community. Through many difficult years the people of Turf Lodge demonstrated time and time again a commitment to their families and to each other. Like Ballymurphy and Andersonstown, Turf Lodge was one of many estates that were built on the then outskirts of Belfast in the years after the end of World War 2. They were part of a programme of work by Belfast City Corporation known as the ‘Slum clearance and houses redevelopment programme.’ The land on which Turf Lodge was built was eventually bought by the Corporation in June 1956. The name of the estate, it is said, came from a farm on which the estate was built. But it was four years later, in October 1960, and after many disputes and delays between builders and the Corporation, that the first completed houses were handed over for allocation...
2 comments
Read more

Slán Peter John

By
Sinn Féin MP Conor Murphy, Fergal Caraher’s parents, Mary and Peter John, and Sinn Féin Councillors Brendan Curran and Colman Burns at the memorial in South Armagh dedicated to Fergal Caraher It was a fine autumn morning. The South Armagh hilltops, free of British Army forts, were beautiful in the bright morning light as we drove north from Dublin to Cullyhanna to attend the funeral of Peter John Caraher. This blog has known Peter John and the Caraher family for many years. A few weeks ago his son Miceál contacted me to let me know that Peter John was terminally ill. I told him I would call. It was just before the Ard Fheis. Miceál explained to me that Peter John had been told he only had a few weeks left but had forgotten this and I needed to be mindful of that in my conversation. I was therefore a wee bit apprehensive about the visit but I called and I came away uplifted and very happy. Peter John was in great form. We spent a couple of hours craicing away, telling yarns and in his c...
2 comments
Read more

The murder of Nora McCabe

By
Nora McCabe was murdered almost 29 years ago on July 9th 1981. She was shot in the back of the head at close range by a plastic bullet fired from an RUC armoured landrover. She died the next day in hospital from her injuries. It was the same morning Joe McDonnell died on hunger strike. Nora was aged 33 and the mother of three young children, the youngest three months old. Over the years I have met her husband Jim many times. He is a quiet but very determined man who never gave up on getting the truth. Jim knew what happened, but as in so many other similar incidents, the RUC and the Director of Public Prosecutions office embarked on a cover up of the circumstances in order to protect the RUC personnel responsible for Nora’s murder. At the inquest in November 1982 several RUC people gave evidence, including James Critchley who was the senior RUC officer in west Belfast at the time. He was in one of the armoured vehicles. The RUC claimed that there were barricades on the Falls Road, tha...
3 comments
Read more