COVERAGE

IRA chief ordered to probe Quinn killing

By Tom Brady Security Editor
Monday March 10 2008

A senior Provisional IRA figure was sent to the Border to carry out an investigation into the involvement of former associates in the murder of Paul Quinn, who was battered to death.

The convicted terrorist, who had served on the IRA's ruling army council, was ordered to hold an inquiry after Provisional bosses became concerned at the likely political fallout if it was clearly established that associates were directly involved in the savage attack.

Within 24 hours of the murder in a shed on a farm near the Co Monaghan village of Oram on October 20 last, gardai and the PSNI were convinced that the killers had former Provisional connections.

Cross-border inquiries since then have backed up that belief, which has been fully accepted by the Government.

A report from the International Monitoring Commission (IMC) is due to be published shortly and is expected to find that former members of the IRA or their associates were responsible for the attack.

That view has already been publicly aired by IMC member and former Scotland Yard anti-terrorist chief, John Grieve, and Justice Minister Brian Lenihan, on the basis of police reports.

However, both men stressed there was no evidence to indicate that the murder had been sanctioned by the IRA leadership.

The senior Provisional figure, who made the internal inquiries, is understood to have spoken to a select group of former comrades in the Border region to establish the reasons for the attack and assess the implications, if criminal charges were brought against any associates.

Anti-terrorist police officers on both sides of the Border believe Paul Quinn fell foul of a number of local republicans, including some with relatively senior status in the region, after being involved in clashes with other young men.

As a result, a group of men with Provisional links decided to take action against him.

The 21-year-old victim was lured to the shed where he was set upon by a gang of up to 10 men and subjected to a barrage of blows from iron bars and cudgels, which inflicted injuries to almost every part of his body.

Mr Quinn's internal injuries included damage to his brain and lungs. A post-mortem examination concluded that he died from blunt force trauma, as a result of the injuries.

Gardai subsequently carried out a forensic examination of the shed but found few clues and concluded that friends of the killers had "cleaned up" the shed before leaving the scene.

Over 1,200 leads have emerged from police inquiries.

- Tom Brady Security Editor

Stormont to debate Quinn murder
UTV 05.02.08

The Northern Ireland Assembly is to debate claims that current and former Provisional IRA members murdered a man.

The Assembly's business committee today pencilled in for next Tuesday a debate condemning the murder in last October of 21-year-old Paul Quinn from Cullyhanna, south Armagh.

Mr Quinn was beaten to death by a gang in isolated farm buildings in Co Monaghan after he was lured over the border.

Accusations that Provisional IRA members were involved have been vehemently denied by senior Sinn Féin figures, including local Newry and Armagh MP Conor Murphy.

Last month it emerged that police on both sides of the border have been following over 1,200 leads.

The motion from SDLP Assembly member Dominic Bradley also notes that the British and Irish Governments have made clear they do not believe claims that Mr Quinn was involved in any criminality and the assessments of Police Service of Northern Ireland chief constable Sir Hugh Orde and the ceasefire watchdog, the Independent Monitoring Commission, that current and former IRA members may have been involved.

Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward noted last week while giving evidence to the House of Commons Northern Ireland Affairs Committee that Sir Hugh also said the murder did not appear to have been sanctioned by the IRA leadership.

MLAs will also be asked to back calls for people to come forward and assist the police investigations on both sides of the border.

The Quinn murder is due to be debated in the Dáil on Thursday.

Dáil to debate Quinn murder
By Staff reporter
02/02/08

The murder of Co Armagh trucker Paul Quinn will be debated in the Dáil next week.

Irish government and opposition TDs will read statements into the parliamentary record on last October's killing in Co Monaghan.

Mr Quinn (21) was beaten to death by a gang of about a dozen men.

Gardaí and the PSNI have mounted an intensive cross-border investigation but no arrests have been made.

"There will be statements on the killing of Paul Quinn on February 7 and Justice Minister Brian Lenihan will contribute," an Oireachtas spokesperson said.

Mr Quinn's parents have blamed the IRA for the death of their son, whom they claimed had defied orders to leave the country by the terrorist group.

However, Sinn Féin denied any republican link and said the death was sparked by a feud between criminal gangs involved in fuel smuggling.

Stephen and Briege Quinn have mounted a campaign to bring those responsible to justice and have met politicians including Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny.

Gardaí said last seek that they are pursuing 1,200 lines of inquiry into the murder and had taken more than 400 statements.

Quinn murder probe fed false information

Sunday Tribune 27.01.08
(by Suzanne Breen, Sunday Tribune)

Sinn Féin and Provisional IRA supporters are deliberately feeding wrong information to gardaí investigating the murder of Paul Quinn to put them on a false trail, sources have claimed.

Quinn (21) from Cullyhanna in south Armagh was beaten to death in October. He was lured to a farm in Oram, Co Monaghan, where eight men set upon him with iron bars and nail-studded cudgels.

Despite Sinn Féin denials, local people insist the Provisional IRA was involved.

Detectives investigating the murder are following up 1,200 lines of inquiry and have taken 400 witness statements on both sides of the South Armagh-North Monaghan border.

Sources said that, despite receiving false information from some interviewees, gardai were very pleased with progress in the investigation and believed it would lead to charges. The Sunday Tribune was told that the barn, where Quinn was beaten, was not subjected to the meticulous forensic clean-up by the IRA as was initially suspected.

Sources said enough DNA evidence was found in the barn to assist prosecutions. Meanwhile, the Quinn support group is to hold a public meeting on the murder in Newry, Co Down, next month.

Other meetings, some of which have been heated, have already taken place in Cullyhanna, Crossmaglen, and Castleblaney. Sinn Féin has a strong presence in Newry and the gathering could be volatile. It will take place in the town hall at 7.30pm on February 20.

The chairman of the Quinn support group, Jim McAllister, said: "At every meeting, the crowds are getting bigger. We are delighted that our campaign for justice for Paul is now coming to Newry."

IRA threat to Quinn murder witness

Observer
Police issue a warning to human 'bait' who was present at barn killing

Henry McDonald, Ireland editor
Sunday January 27, 2008
The Observer

One of the young men unwittingly used as 'bait' to lure South Armagh man Paul Quinn to his death has been told his life is under threat from the Provisional IRA, it was revealed last night. He was visited at his home last week by PSNI officers who warned him he was in danger.

The Quinn family's support group has claimed that the IRA in South Armagh killed their son over a dispute with a senior republican and his family. Claims now that the Provisionals are still actively targeting one of the three men who were with Quinn inside the remote barn where he was beaten to death last year could potentially destabilise the political settlement at Stormont.



Last night Ulster Unionist peer Lord Laird of Artigarvan said that he intended to raise at Westminster this week the Quinns' and other local people's allegations that one of the men used as 'bait' in the Quinn death is under threat from the South Armagh Provisionals.

A number of unionist politicians have warned that, unless Quinn's killers and others involved in the murder of Belfast man Robert McCartney are brought to justice, they will block devolving policing and judicial powers to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Next month two motions, one in the Stormont Assembly, the other in the Dail, will be put forward calling for full co-operation into the Quinn murder inquiry. Last week it was revealed that the Garda Siochana are following more than 1,000 leads in the case.

The issue of a fresh death threat to a potentially crucial witness in the investigation has raised tensions further in South Armagh. PSNI officers left a written 'security threat form' at the man's home. The Observer understands that the written warning included a reference to him being under threat from the Provisionals. Yesterday the family declined to comment on the PSNI visit.

A police spokesman said that the PSNI did not discuss 'the security of individuals.' However, he refused to confirm or deny that such a visit had taken place last week. The Observer has also learnt that the police advised the family that they had an intelligence source who informed them that he would be killed and later smeared as an informer. The man was with Quinn when he was lured to a small farm in Tullycoora, Co Monaghan, and beaten to death by a gang of masked men on 20 October last year.

Quinn had been involved in a feud with young men from leading IRA families.

Sinn Fein MP and Stormont minister Conor Murphy has continued to insist that local republicans had no hand in the Paul Quinn killing. The MP later infuriated the dead man's parents by claiming their son had died because of a criminal feud among diesel smugglers.

But the Garda, the PSNI and the Irish Foreign Minister, Dermot Ahern, have dismissed the criminal feud theory and say there is no evidence to support the MP's claim.

Irish Times
26.01.08
Potential Quinn witness being threatened by IRA - claim

A young Cullyhanna man has been officially warned by the PSNI that his life is being threatened by the IRA, it has been claimed. Dan Keenan , Northern News Editor, reports.

The support group working on behalf of the family of murdered south Armagh man Paul Quinn say they know the name of the individual but cannot supply further details at present.

The Irish Times was told yesterday the young man allegedly threatened is a potential witness in the Paul Quinn murder case. The PSNI said last night it could not comment.

Mr Quinn (21) was beaten to death by a gang in an isolated farm building in Co Monaghan near the border with Co Armagh last October.

The Garda said on Thursday it was following some 1,200 leads and had taken more than 400 witness statements on both sides of the Border.

The support group has already staged a series of public meetings in Armagh and Monaghan as well as meetings with the Taoiseach and the Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Members have vociferously supported the Quinn family's denial that the murdered man died as a result of involvement in crime.

The Quinn Support Group has also repeated its condemnation of "any and all attacks, intimidation, graffiti, finger-pointing and vandalism in any way connected with the brutal murder of Paul Quinn".

This followed claims by the family of another Cullyhanna man, Vincent Treanor, that he was the victim of a "campaign of intimidation and attacks on our home and property".

Reports in a local newspaper referred to claims by the Treanor family against the Quinn Support Group.

"Attempts have been made to burn our family home and a vehicle belonging to the family was maliciously burned," the Treanor family said.

"There has been an ongoing series of bottle and brick attacks on our home. Graffiti naming and threatening our father has been daubed throughout the area," the family claimed.

However, the Quinn Support Group has denied any involvement and called on the Treanors to bring any evidence about any crime to the PSNI.

"Immediately after the group was formed on 12th November, we issued a statement repeating the family's call for no retaliation of any kind right down to the level of petty vandalism.

"We called for graffiti then appearing on walls in Cullyhanna to be removed and we arranged for it to be replaced by respectful signs calling for truth and justice," the support group said.

"On behalf of the Quinn family and all who support it, we must forcefully reject any insinuation that any such actions against Vincent Treanor or anyone else are condoned in any way. They are not," the statement continued.

1,200 leads in Quinn murder probe
BBC, Thursday, 24 January 2008, 11:22 GMT

Detectives are following about 1,200 lines of inquiry into the murder of County Armagh man Paul Quinn, a senior garda officer has said.

Mr Quinn, 21, from Cullyhanna, died after being attacked and beaten at a shed near Castleblaney in October.

IRA members have been blamed but Sinn Féin denies any republican involvement.

Superintendent Karl Heller said they were resolved to bring the perpetrators to justice but needed their family and friends to examine their consciences.

He said there had been close liaison with colleagues in the Police Service of Northern Ireland, with many inquiries taking place north of the border.

More than 400 witness statements have been taken, he said.

"We have carried out many inquiries and indeed we are following in excess of 1,200 particular lines of inquiry," he said.

"The people who were involved in this crime will have loved ones, whether they be sons, brothers, they have family members. They may have noticed some change in their loved ones behaviour.

"They do possess vital information and it's information which will help us solve a crime which was not only a crime against a young man, it's a crime against the community."

Mr Heller said it was a "well resourced, professional and very thorough investigation".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7206551.stm

Newry Democrat

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Assembly debate on Quinn murder
by Donal O’Reilly

THE Northern Ireland Assembly is to debate the murder of Cullyhanna man Paul Quinn after Newry and Armagh MLA Dominic Bradley set down a motion condemning the brutal killing.

The motion, which Mr Bradley expects to be aired over the next few weeks, points out that both the Irish and British governments do not believe that Mr Quinn was involved in any form of criminal activity.

It also notes that the Chief Constable and the International Monitoring Commission both consider that there was IRA involvement in Mr Quinn’s murder.

Mr Bradley explained that he decided to put the motion forward because it is time to “move beyond ritual condemnations” and make a stand for a lawful society.

“Unfortunately, this murder investigation has been distorted from the very beginning by political intervention,” the SDLP representative said. “Statements were made excluding the main group of suspects within hours of the killing.

Attacks were made on the character of the victim when the focus should have been on his killers.

“I believe these diversion tactics may have had a negative impact on the investigation. But I hope that a strong cross-party response in the Assembly will send a powerful message that people should come forward and give evidence without regard to what groups may or may not have been involved in the murder.”


And for the sake of the grieving family, all politicians should clearly dissociate themselves from what he described as “the very explicit allegations of criminality” made against their son, Mr Bradley added.

It is time to stand up against what he termed the crowbar brigade, the Assembly member insisted, and ensure that no other young men suffer as Mr Quinn did.

“Although this murder took place in the Republic, it was planned in this jurisdiction and we have the word of the Chief Constable that all the likely suspects come from this jurisdiction,” he went on. “The continued existence of a local murder machine which can sign and execute death warrants is a direct challenge to all our political institutions.”

Meanwhile, Stephen and Briege Quinn held talks on their son’s murder with Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny on Tuesday, with Quinn Support Group chairman Jim McAllister describing the meeting as “very worthwhile”.

According to Mr McAllister, who was also present during the discussions, Mr Kenny undertook to raise the subject of Mr Quinn’s murder in the Dail and pledged that he would keep the issue alive in order to try and secure justice for the bereaved family.
 

Irish Independent

Truck driver beaten to death after row with IRA 'hard man'

By Tom Brady Security Editor
Monday January 14 2008

A ROW with associates of a prominent IRA bodyguard sealed the fate of Border truck driver Paul Quinn.

A joint investigation by the gardai and the PSNI to track down Quinn's killers is now being stepped up, as more members of the tightly-knit community on the Monaghan-south Armagh border prepare to abandon their previous fears of speaking out against the Provisionals and their supporters.

Senior garda officers believe they know the identities of those involved in the horrific killing, in which 21-year-old Quinn was battered to death with cudgels and iron bars in a disused shed on a farm near the Co Monaghan village of Oram last October.

They believe Quinn was targeted after clashing with an associate of an IRA "hard man", who had acted as a bodyguard for one of the highest ranking Provisionals either side of the Border.

Detectives north and south have pursued more than 600 leads in their efforts to compile a prosecution case against the killers.

Suspects

Information emerging from those leads helped officers to narrow down the list of suspects and a major review of progress achieved so far was carried out by gardai last week in Monaghan.

Pressure on the IRA leadership is expected to be increased in the spring, when the International Monitoring Commission issues its findings on the murder.

There are already clear indications from one of the commission's four members, former Scotland Yard anti-terrorist chief, John Grieve, that the intelligence in its possession points the finger of blame at former members of the IRA or their associates.

That view has also been accepted by the Irish and British governments, and there has been a huge response to the joint door-to-door inquiries carried out by the gardai and PSNI in south Armagh.

Paul Quinn's father, Stephen, said at the weekend he believed that those responsible had not intended to kill Paul.

He said their aim was to beat him and leave him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life as a warning to others who dared to tangle with IRA sympathisers.

The 21-year-old victim died in hospital two hours after he had been subjected to a barrage of blows by a gang of up to 10 men.

A post-mortem examination concluded that he had died from blunt force trauma as a result of injuries inflicted to almost every part of his body.

Within 24 hours of the killing, senior gardai were satisfied that Provisional IRA sympathisers were involved.

However, senior Sinn Fein figures in the area continue to insist that members of their former military wing were not linked to the attack, and claim Mr Quinn was the victim of criminals.

- Tom Brady Security Editor

Irish Times 11.01.08

Ó Caoláin urges unity on search for Quinn killers

SF came in for criticism at a meeting of the Justice for Paul Quinn campaign, writes Carissa Casey in Castleblayney.

The Justice for Paul Quinn campaign moved south of the Border on Wednesday night and made its first tentative step towards a rapprochement with Sinn Féin.

Among several TDs present at the campaign's third public meeting at a Castleblayney hotel, just a few miles from the remote farm where the 21-year-old south Armagh man was battered to death in October, was Sinn Féin's Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin.

Mr Ó Caoláin spoke privately to Mr Quinn's parents before the meeting and expressed sympathy to them on behalf of his party.

"I believe that has been sincerely accepted," he later told the meeting. "I think that was an important moment and I hope that tonight's meeting will mark a new direction in terms of the address of what is the core objective of the Quinn family, an objective that I believe is universally respected by all opinion in this room."

Mr Ó Caoláin was invited to be the first of the politicians to speak at the meeting by chairman Jim McAllister, and received polite if unenthusiastic applause when he finished.

Mr Quinn's parents have repeatedly stated they believe members of the Provisional IRA were involved in their son's brutal murder. Senior members of Sinn Féin, including leader Gerry Adams and the Quinns' local MP Conor Murphy, have denied any republican involvement and claim it related to a feud among criminal gangs.

Mr Ó Caoláin did not withdraw the further allegation made by Mr Murphy that Paul Quinn was involved in criminality. However, he received a round of applause when he said "nobody in any circumstances deserved to meet the terrible death that he [Paul] was subjected to.

"For me it isn't the issue whether Paul was involved in some activities or he wasn't. What happened to Paul, which has been quite rightly said here tonight, was a criminal act and those responsible were criminals and no other name applies."

However, he also claimed that the Quinn campaign could sow the seeds of "very serious disaffection, distrust and a lack of harmony and cohesion in their own community if we don't rise above the whole issue of what has separated voices heretofore.

"We cannot turn back what has been said. People will have their views and opinions. I don't have views because I never knew Paul Quinn. I don't live in the community and I can't offer an opinion other than the opinions that I have had shared with me, when for me it is absolutely academic whether Paul was involved in this or that or the other.

"I am 100 per cent behind the campaign to secure truth and justice but I am not alone in that demand. Any inference that my colleague Conor Murphy is in any way at variance or distance or remove of what I am saying here tonight, I want to absolutely scotch that view.

"We must ensure that tonight's meeting represents a turning point and that we all move forward together."

While the meeting was not as contentious as a similar event in Crossmaglen in November, when members of Sinn Féin openly accused the Quinn campaign of manipulating the family for political ends, there were a handful of dissenting voices.

Two speakers accused the campaign of fostering intimidation of people suspected of being involved in the murder. The audience included senior members of the south Armagh IRA, and there was a heavy police presence both in the town and around the hotel.

Gardaí handed out leaflets requesting assistance with their investigation and asked for any information about a white Hiace or Nissan van which they believe was used by the murder gang.

Among the pro-Quinn supporters, who were in the clear majority, Sinn Féin's Mr Murphy came in for repeated criticism.

Mr Ó Caoláin appealed to the Quinns to meet Mr Murphy but committee member Seamus Bellew said no such meeting would happen until Mr Murphy publicly withdrew the allegation Paul was involved in criminality.

In his report to the meeting, Mr Bellew said the first of the campaign's objectives was achieved in December when Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said there was no evidence Mr Quinn was involved in criminality. He said that neither the British nor Irish governments nor the respective police forces had ruled out the involvement of members of the IRA in the murder. "Conor Murphy aside, the whole country knows now what this was about," he told the meeting.

"Now that the de-politicisation of Paul Quinn's murder is almost complete, we want to focus all our energies on getting people to co-operate with the Garda and the police investigation."

All the TDs who spoke urged anyone with information to contact the relevant authorities. These included Fianna Fáil's Margaret Conlon, Dr Rory O'Hanlon and Seamus Kirk, and Fine Gael's Seymour Crawford.

Paul's father, Stephen Quinn, told the meeting his family was not being manipulated for political ends and denied the campaign had a political agenda.

Irish News
Family to meet every political leader, except Adams
By Barry McCaffrey
10/01/08

The family of murdered south Armagh man Paul Quinn plan to hold a meeting with party political leaders from north and south, it was revealed last night.
Stephen and Briege Quinn held private talks with the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) yesterday before attending a public meeting in Castleblaney, Co Monaghan to discuss their campaign to bring their son’s killers to justice.
Campaign group spokesman Jim McAllister last night revealed that the 21-year-old’s family plan to meet with party political leaders from Northern Ireland and the Republic in the near future.
However, Mr McAllister said that the Quinn family would refuse to meet Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams unless he withdrew comments that the death had been linked to a falling-out among criminals.
“The family hopes to hold a meeting with political leaders on both sides of the border but Gerry Adams won’t be invited unless Sinn Fein retracts it statements that Paul Quinn was involved in criminality,” he said.
Mr McAllister said that the justice campaign would be refocused following recent talks with senior Irish government ministers, including Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and foreign affaits minister Dermot Ahern.
“The family succeeded in having the Irish government withdraw the slur on Paul’s name that he was involved in criminality and the campaign will now refocus its attentions on those who organised and carried out Paul Quinn’s murder,” he said.
Following last night’s meeting in Castleblayney Gardai distributed leaflets appealing for the public’s help, including an appeal for information about a van thought to have been used in the murder.
“We are appealing for anyone with even the slightest information, no matter how insignificant they may think it is, to come forward,” the statement read.
“The gardai need the public’s help if they are to succeed in bringing those who killed Paul Quinn to justice.
“We are also appealing on those who were inside that shed and saw what happened when Paul Quinn was murdered to reexamine their conscience and to come forward even at this late stage.
“We are very happy with the public and political support the campaign has received to date and plan to redouble our efforts in coming months.”

Belfast Telegraph

Family step up fight to catch killer gang

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

By Emily Moulton

Supporters and the family of murdered Cullyhanna man Paul Quinn will hold a public meeting in Castleblayney tonight as part of their campaign to bring his killers to justice.

The 21-year-old former lorry driver was bludgeoned to death by a gang of masked men wielding iron bars and pickaxe handles in a remote Co Monaghan shed in October last year.

No-one has ever been charged in connection with the young man's death.

His family maintain the Provisional IRA was responsible for the killing and have met with senior politicians from both sides of the border as part of their campaign.

Shortly after Paul's death, there were accusations the south Armagh man was killed as a result of a dispute between rival criminal gangs, inferring he himself was involved in criminal activity.

His family have strongly denied this and last month Taoiseach Bertie Ahern told the Dail that the Irish government never held the view that he was involved in criminality of any kind.

It is now believed the attack was the result of an altercation between Paul Quinn and one of the local IRA bosses involved in issuing the order that led to the killing.

Although gardai, who are leading the investigation, have interviewed hundreds of people and taken statements in relation to the attack, there is still not enough evidence to bring charges after two months of work.

It is because of this and the widespread anti-authority culture in south Armagh that a second meeting is being held tonight.

It is understood the Quinn family will make another heartfelt plea to the local community for people with information surrounding Paul's death to come forward.

Jim McAllister, chairman of The Quinn Support Group which organised the meeting, explained that because the Irish and British governments had made clear their view that Paul Quinn was not a criminal and the involvement of the Provisional IRA in the murder was an important line of police inquiry, the group wanted to focus its efforts on a proper investigation.

"Now that an important element of truth has been firmly established, there should be an increased focus on the attainment of justice through the Garda investigation," he said.

"The meeting will again encourage people to come forward with information which can be turned into evidence, not only in regard to Paul's murder, but also on other beatings and incidents which the investigating officers believe may throw light on how it was planned and executed.

"The support group will also seek views on how we can ensure that such a crime can never happen again."

The public meeting will be held at the Glencarn Hotel in Castleblayney at 8pm.

Sunday Independent

Finding Paul Quinn killers vital to save law and order, say family

By JIM CUSACK
Sunday January 06 2008

The future of law and order in south Armagh hinges on the Garda's ability to bring charges and gain convictions in the murder of Paul Quinn, the young man beaten to death by the IRA last October, supporters of his family's campaign for justice said yesterday.

It has also been learned that death threats have been made against three supporters of the family by local IRA figures.

Mr Quinn's family are still demanding that Sinn Fein withdraw its remarks that Paul was killed as part of a feud between criminal gangs involved in fuel smuggling, inferring that he himself was a criminal. So far, Sinn Fein, including its leader Gerry Adams and local MP Conor Murphy, have refused to do so.

Although gardai have interviewed hundreds of people and taken statements there is still not enough evidence to bring charges after two months work by up to 100 detectives and gardai. Senior sources said the investigation will continue at a high level of intensity but need more support from local people. They are aware that in some cases, witnesses have been intimidated by known IRA figures.

It is now understood that the order to abduct Paul Quinn and carry out the savage beating came from a meeting of high level IRA figures in south Armagh in the weeks before his murder. Five or six bosses, all involved in various types of smuggling and criminality, issued the order. It is also believed that the attack was not sanctioned by the IRA's "Army Council" but was an entirely local affair resulting from an altercation between Paul Quinn and one of the local bosses involved in issuing the order that led to the killing.

The operation to track Paul Quinn's movements was led by a senior local IRA figure who was implicated in the murder of Post Office worker Frank Kerr, who was shot dead during an IRA robbery of the sorting office in Newry in November 1994, after the first IRA ceasefire.

This man led a gang of up to 20 which included nine men who carried out the actual beating at a cattle shed belonging to the family of Paul Quinn's friends at Oram in Co Monaghan on October 20 last. According to sources, iron bars were used to break his legs and feet while wooden cudgels with nails or metal spikes were used to beat his torso. The fatal injuries were inflicted to his head also with iron bars. The other members of the gang provided the getaway or "run back" vehicles as well as locations for the men to dispose of their overalls and balaclavas. One was dressed in combat gear.

At least eight of those involved in the planning, direction and actual killing live within a short distance of the Quinn family home in Cullyhanna.

The family's spokesman, former Sinn Fein representative Jim McAllister, yesterday said: "It is widely known and accepted about what happened and who was involved. It is going to have a tremendous impact if this is buried. It could have serious implications for years, even generations to come. It is significant that for the first time young people here are putting their trust in policing and particularly the gardai and are longing for results.

"If the gardai get the results against these people and arrests and convictions for this murder, there will be support for policing in south Armagh, of that there could be no doubt. If they don't get that you can forget about policing for two generations, no matter what Sinn Fein says."

Mr McAllister said the IRA Sinn Fein was actively involved in the cover-up surrounding the murder and that it was engaged in a campaign of blackening Paul Quinn's name.

- JIM CUSACK
 

Irish News 18.12.07

Family welcomes Ahern comments on allegation
By Barry McCaffrey
THE parents of murdered Co Armagh man Paul Quinn have welcomed assurances from the Republic’s government that it no longer believes that their son’s death was linked to a fall-out among criminals.

Stephen and Briege Quinn had asked for a meeting with foreign affairs minister Dermot Ahern to

discuss comments made by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern following the 21-year-old’s murder in October.

The taoiseach had claimed in the Dail that Paul Quinn’s murder had been the result of a dispute among criminals and had not been paramilitary related.

However, following a meeting with Dermot Ahern in Dundalk yesterday the Quinns said the Irish government had now accepted that their son was not a criminal.

“The meeting wiith Dermot Ahern went very well,” Stephen Quinn said.

“He said that Paul was not a criminal, that he had no record of him being a criminal, that he had no criminal convictions and as far as they were concerned all of that was not true.”

Mr Quinn said he had been assured that the taioseach’s comments regarding his son’s murder had been based on intelligence reports given to him at the time.

However, he said the taoiseach now accepted that Paul Quinn was not involved in criminal activities.

“It gave us peace of mind that the government is not saying that Paul was a criminal and that anyone who is saying it now, is saying it on their own steam and will have to be fit to stand it up.”

Asked if his family would now be seeking a face-to-face meeting with the taoiseach, he said: “I am hoping so and we are looking for a meeting with the taoiseach to try and get that rectified, to get the records straightened out that Paul wasn’t what they were saying he was.”

The dead man’s mother Briege said that she had been satisfied by the minister’s assurances that her son was not involved in criminality.

“Dermot Ahern told us very clearly that it is not the view of the Irish government that our son was a criminal,” she said.

“This has lifted a great weight from our shoulders. Once we got over the shock of Paul’s death, nothing has caused us more hurt and pain than these allegations.

“It was one thing to hear them from certain political quarters, but when the taoiseach stood up in the Dail and seemed to be backing them up, it made things a lot worse for us.

“This actually means more to us than getting someone into court.

“We know justice will take time, but the truth can be told right away.”

Irish Times 18.12.07
Minister says Quinn 'no criminal'
Dan Keenan, Northern News Editor

The parents of murdered Cullyhanna man Paul Quinn have welcomed a meeting with Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern as a "breakthrough".

Stephen and Briege Quinn said they were relieved that the Irish Government did not view their 21-year-old son, beaten to death at a remote Co Monaghan farm in October, as a criminal.

"[Mr Ahern] said that Paul was not a criminal, there was no record of him being a criminal and had no convictions," Mr Quinn said after the meeting at the Minister's constituency office in Dundalk, Co Louth.

Mr Quinn said he hoped to meet the Taoiseach soon about remarks he made in the Dáil after the murder suggesting the killing was linked to feuding between criminals involved in diesel laundering in the Border area.

"We are looking to get a meeting with the Taoiseach to try to get the record put straight, that Paul was not what they said he was," he said. The Taoiseach told the Dáil on November 14th the murder "was not paramilitary but pertained to feuds about criminality that were taking place".

He added the Government had received a number of reports both from gardaí "and secondhand from the PSNI, and both of them match at this stage, that this action was due to criminality".

Dermot Ahern said he was encouraged at the co-operation between the PSNI and the Garda in the murder investigation. "I very much welcome the fact that the PSNI and the Garda are working hand-in-hand," he said.

"It's an incredible change to see gardaí knocking doors in Cullyhanna and Crossmaglen to try to get some evidence about this in conjuction with the PSNI. It is vital that people come forward and give evidence. For too long the people of Cullyhanna and this area have suffered under the yoke of paramilitarism."

The Quinns were accompanied by SDLP councillor Geraldine Donnelly and MLA Dominic Bradley, who said his constituents were concerned their son's name had been slandered.

Mr Bradley said: "Second only to the brutal murder of their son, nothing has caused the Quinn family as much distress as the allegations peddled by Conor Murphy of Sinn Féin that their dead son was a criminal. The rumour mill started while his body was still on the operating table in Drogheda. The seemingly ambiguous stance of the Taoiseach made things worse, but today's clarification has been a great relief.

"This is a tremendous relief for the family. Ultimately they want to see Paul's murderers brought to justice, but it's a major step for them to have that major slur removed from their son's name."

Mr Bradley told RTÉ: "The family have made it clear that Paul had had a number of altercations with people locally [in south Armagh] in the paramilitary world. They consider that those who were responsible for Paul's death were people who were able to access paramilitary structures in the area - not necessarily sanctioned by the paramilitary organisation. Certainly those structures were brought into action to commission Paul's murder. The family expressed their gratitude to Mr Ahern for the clarity with which he spoke on the issue."

A group set up to support the family and to seek justice for Paul Quinn has held public meetings in Cullyhanna and Crossmaglen and will hold another next month in Castleblaney, Co Monaghan.

© 2007 The Irish Times

Irish Examiner

18 December 2007

Ahern: No evidence Quinn was a criminal

By Elaine Keogh
FOREIGN Minister Dermot Ahern has said the Government “have no evidence Paul Quinn was a criminal”.


His comments were welcomed by the family of the 21-year-old from south Armagh, who was beaten to death by a gang at a warehouse in Co Monaghan in October.

The minister met yesterday with Mr Quinn’s parents, Stephen and Briege, and Dominic Bradley MLA in Dundalk.

His family has claimed his killers were members of the IRA, but Sinn Féin has claimed the incident arose as a result of a criminal feud over fuel smuggling.

Mr Bradley said: “The minister said very clearly it is not the view of the Irish Government that Paul Quinn was a criminal and I think that is a major step forward for the family.

“The slur of criminality was causing great pain to the family and the minister has very welcomely removed that slur and removed a huge burden of the family.”

Mr Ahern said there is nothing “at this moment in time to suggest” that Mr Quinn’s death was “orchestrated or at the behest of a paramilitary organisation, whatever about maybe members of that organisation being in some way involved”.

Ms Quinn said the purpose of the meeting had been to ask for Paul’s name to be “cleared of criminality” and she was “very pleased” with the outcome.

She said she was “no further on from the day it happened. I can’t move on. I feel broken-hearted and devastated” but added that she and her husband had faith the culprits will be brought to justice.

Mr Bradley said the Garda investigation “is proceeding very well and getting good co-operation from local community”.

In relation to the Garda/PSNI investigation, Mr Ahern said it was an “incredible change to see gardaí knocking on doors in Crossmaglen and Cullyhana. It is vital people come forward and give evidence because for too long people in this area have suffered”.

The minister said the entirety of what happened had to be fully investigated.

“We have no evidence that Paul Quinn was a criminal. We want to find out what happened and bring the people who did this to justice.

“We await the investigation by the gardaí, which I believe is receiving very good co-operation from people of the area but it is necessary for others to come forward.”

He said the geographical area involved has not been “properly policed in 35 years and people are suffering because of that fact. Certain individuals have been able to rule the roost in that area for many years”.

The Quinn family also wants to meet with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in the new year and the minister gave his support to that request.

Irish Independent 18.12.07

'Mr Ahern, please clear our son's name in the Dail

A tearful Brid Quinn, mother of murdered teenager Paul Quinn, speaks to the media after meeting Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern in Dundalk

By Michael Brennan and Elaine Keogh
Tuesday December 18 2007

THE parents of a murdered South Armagh man have called on Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to withdraw his Dail claim that the death was linked to criminal feuds.

Paul Quinn was beaten to death by a gang in a paramilitary style attack in a barn in Monaghan in October.

His parents Stephen and Brid Quinn were told by Foreign Affairs minister Dermot Ahern in Dundalk yesterday that the Government had "no evidence" that their son was a criminal.

"It gave us a great breakthrough, it gave us peace of mind that the Government is not saying Paul is a criminal. Anyone that's saying it now is saying it on their own," Stephen Quinn said.

However, he said he wanted the Taoiseach to correct the record, following his claim in the Dail last November that the death "was not paramilitary but pertained to feuds about criminality that were taking place".

"We are hoping to get a meeting with the Taoiseach and get the record straightened out," he told RTE.

Gang

His 21-year-old son had been phoned by friends who told him to come across the border to help muck out a barn. But they had been forced to do so by a gang of up to nine men, who beat Paul to death with iron bars.

Although the family believe the IRA were responsible, this has been denied by Sinn Fein. Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern indicated that the Government believed the killing may have been carried out by IRA members but not ordered by the IRA army council -- which means that the political process will not be affected.

He said there was nothing to suggest Mr Quinn's death was "orchestrated or at the behest of a paramilitary organisation, whatever about maybe members of that organisation being in someway involved."

Mr Ahern said he was awaiting the results of the joint investigation being carried out by the Gardai and the PSNI, which was getting very good co-operation on both sides of the border.

"It is an incredible change to see gardai knocking doors in Crossmaglen and Cullyhana. It is vital people come forward and give evidence because for too long people in this area have suffered."

Mrs Quinn said the purpose of the meeting had been to ask for her son's name to be "cleared of criminality" and she was "very pleased" with the outcome.

She was still broken hearted, but did have faith that the culprits would be brought to justice, she said.

SDLP Assembly member Dominic Bradley said that Mr Ahern's comment about Mr Quinn was a major step forward for the family.

"The slur of criminality was causing great pain to the family and the Minister has very welcomely removed that slur and removed a huge burden of the family."

Sunday Tribune 16.12.07

Quinns want to meet Taoiseach
(by Suzanne Breen, Sunday Tribune)

The family of murdered South Armagh man, Paul Quinn, are hoping to meet the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, to discuss their son's killing.

The Quinns are meeting the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, in Dundalk on Monday. However, it is believed that a meeting with the Taoiseach will be arranged later.

Quinn, 21, from Cullyhanna, was lured to a farm near Oram, Co Monaghan, where he was beaten to death by up to eight men with iron bars and nail-studded cudgels in October.

He had been previously been involved in several confrontations with Provisional IRA-linked figures and their associates. Sinn Féin has denied Provisional involvement and described the murder as a falling out between "criminals" and "fuel-launderers". However, local people insist the Provisionals were responsible.

The Taoiseach appears to have accepted Sinn Féin's denials, stating that Paul Quinn's murder "was not paramilitary but pertained to feuds about criminality that were taking place". The Quinns were deeply hurt by these comments.

Local SDLP Assembly member, Dominic Bradley, said: "The family hope to meet the Taoiseach in the New Year and tell him their story face-to-face. They will be saying very strongly that their son was not a criminal. They hope that by hearing first-hand, from his mother and father, the facts about events leading up to Paul's murder, the Taoiseach will change his opinion."

Bradley will accompany the Quinns to their meeting with Dermot Ahern in Dundalk. Three TDs and several councillors from across the border were among a 300-strong crowd who attended a meeting in support of the family in Crossmaglen last Thursday.

Sinn Féin members and supporters, including Declan Murphy whose brother Conor is the local MP, were also present but were strongly challenged by the majority of the crowd when they spoke. Further meetings will be held on both sides of the border in the New Year.

Irish News editorial (extract) 17.12.07

Removing the army council would also be an appropriate response to the growing alarm over the circumstances surrounding the murder of 21-year-old Paul Quinn in Co Monaghan in October.

It is unlikely that the army council could have sanctioned the killing but all the evidence which has emerged links the outrage to past or present IRA members.

The way in which ordinary residents of Mr Quinn’s home area in south Armagh have been prepared to speak out over his death has been striking.

It all bears disturbing parallels to the murder of Robert McCartney by equally ruthless and well-organised individuals in the Markets district of Belfast in January of 2005.

The Quinn family remain convinced that their son was also a victim of the IRA and they want to see the perpetrators brought before the courts.

Both the family and the detectives investigating the killing on both sides of the border deserve the support of the entire community.

Standing down the army council will not resolve the matter but it would firmly demonstrate that republicans are determined to remove any suspicions which may exist about their structures and intentions.

Irish News 15.12.07

SF accuses SDLP of manipulating Quinn campaign
(Suzanne McGonagle, Irish News)

Sinn Féin last night (Friday) accused the SDLP of using the family of murdered south Armagh man Paul Quinn for "electoral advantage".

Crossmaglen councillor Terry Hearty said he believed the campaign for justice for the Quinn family was being manipulated for political reasons.

The SDLP responded that the Sinn Féin comments were a "pathetic attempt to try and fill the vacuum of their own inactions".

The claims came after more than 300 people attended a meeting in Crossmaglen in support of the Quinns following their son's death in October.

The 21-year-old was beaten to death by a group of men in a shed in Co Monaghan.

His family have blamed members of the IRA for his killing. Nobody has been arrested or charged in connection with his murder.

The Quinn Support Group, which was set up following the murder to campaign for truth and justice, held its second meeting on Thursday.

SDLP councillor Geraldine Donnelly, a family friend of the Quinns, is involved in the group.

It said it planned to bring its case to Stormont, Westminster and Leinster House. They are due to meet the Republic's minister for foreign affairs Dermot Ahern on Monday.

Three TDs and several councillors from the Republic attended the meeting, while a number of Sinn Féin councillors were also among the crowd.

Speaking after the meeting, Mr Hearty claimed there was a "political agenda behind the group", which was doing "a disservice to both the Quinn family and the search for justice".

He said the meeting allowed him the opportunity to publicly challenge "false statements" made about him and other councillors.

"It emerged during the course of the proceedings that the SDLP have assumed control of the campaign, their motivation being electoral advantage rather than the truth or justice," he claimed.

"This was very clearly the reason behind the false statements and personal attacks which have been issued by the group against individual Sinn Féin representatives. It also does a great disservice to the Quinn family.

"What people here will have no part of is anyone with a clear political and anti-community agenda. This sort of motivation should have no place in a genuine justice campaign."

However, SDLP assembly member Dominic Bradley said the comments by Sinn Féin were a "pathetic attempt to try and fill the vacuum of their own inactions".

Mr Bradley said Ms Donnelly had been contacted by the Quinns for assistance on the night of their son's murder.

"There has been no secret of the SDLP search for justice and the support for the Quinn family," he said.

Sunday Life 15.12.07
Tragic family step up fight for justice


Sunday, December 16, 2007

The devastated father of a young man who was battered to death last night vowed to continue his campaign for justice in 2008.

Stephen Quinn, from Cullyhanna, whose son Paul was murdered by a gang in October, issued the plea after it emerged he is to meet with Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern tomorrow.

Mr Quinn, who has accused IRA members of killing his son, will discuss the police inquiry into his 21-year-old son's case.

He will also discuss his fears over a smear campaign being waged against his family in south Armagh.

Said Mr Quinn: "We are trying to get Paul's name cleared and make sure the people who did this are put before the courts and put behind bars.

"We are hoping to show the minister that Paul had no involvement in any form of criminality and wasn't a criminal himself.

"These allegations about my son are extremely hurtful and we are eager to set the record straight.

"We will discuss the background to the murder with the minister and why we believe he was murdered by the IRA."

Sunday Life can reveal that the Garda Commissioner has agreed to meet a delegation from the DUP to discuss the murder of Paul Quinn.

Fachtna Murphy will meet the DUP delegation shortly after Christmas to give the party a briefing on the investigation into the killing in a farm outhouse at Drumnacrib near Castleblayney.

DUP policing spokesman Jeffrey Donaldson said yesterday that the meeting was part of a series of meetings designed to brief the DUP on the extent of IRA involvement in the sadistic killing.

The Quinn family will be accompanied at their meeting with Mr Ahern by SDLP MLA Dominic Bradley.

The SDLP also rejected claims by Sinn Fein that the party was using the murder for "electoral advantage".

Sinn Fein has denied the IRA was involved and suggested the brutal killing was linked to a row over fuel smuggling. But Mr Quinn rejected the claims and believes his son was murdered because of his personal feud with a senior Provo in the area.

More than 300 people attended a public meeting in Crossmaglen last Thursday in support of the family's fight for justice.

Ireland.com 14.12.07

Ahern to meet Paul Quinns' family

The parents of a young Northern Ireland man allegedly murdered by members for the IRA this year are to meet Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern as part of their campaign to bring their son's killers to justice.

Briege and Stephen Quinn whose son Paul was beaten to death at a farm near Oram, Co Monaghan, last month will meet Mr Ahern in Dundalk on Monday.

They are to discuss issues relating to the ongoing police investigation and also raise concerns that a campaign is being mounted to smear their son's the name.

Sinn Fein has denied the IRA was involved in the brutal murder of the 21-year-old, from Cullyhanna, Co Armagh, last October.

And it has been mooted that the attack was linked to a row over fuel smuggling. His parents refute this and claim their son was killed because of a personal feud with an IRA member.

Stephen Quinn said the family had been hurt by claims that his son was a criminal. "We are trying to get Paul's name cleared and make sure the people who did this are put before the courts and put behind bars," he said.

The family will be accompanied at their meeting with Mr Ahern by SDLP Assembly member Dominic Bradley.

"The family are hoping to show the minister that Paul had no involvement in any form of criminality and wasn't a criminal himself," he said.

Last night more than 300 people attended a public meeting in Crossmaglen in support of the Quinn family.

Irish Times 15.12.07

Taoiseach says no evidence of IRA role in killing
Gerry Moriarty and Jamie Smyth in Lisbon

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said yesterday he had heard no intelligence to suggest that the IRA was involved in the murder of Paul Quinn from Cullyhanna in October.

Responding to criticism of his earlier remarks suggesting the killing was linked to a criminal feud, Mr Ahern said in Lisbon yesterday that the Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern would meet the Quinn family on Monday morning.

Some speakers at a Quinn Support Group meeting in Crossmaglen on Thursday night were critical of the Taoiseach, including Monaghan Fianna Fáil councillor Padraig McNally.

In October the Taoiseach said the killing appeared to be linked "with local criminal activity", while in November, citing Garda and PSNI sources, he told the Dáil the killing "was not paramilitary but pertained to feuds about criminality".

However, the Quinn family and members of the Quinn group insist IRA members in south Armagh were involved while accepting that the killing was not sanctioned at "any organisational level".

Geraldine Donnelly, a local SDLP councillor and member of the Quinn group, said in Crossmaglen on Thursday night that Mr Quinn's murder was "politicised before Paul's broken body was cold". She was "very sad" that the Taoiseach appeared to be supporting Sinn Féin's assertions that the IRA was not involved.

She said Mr Ahern's comments allowed local Sinn Féin MP Conor Murphy say on RTÉ that he "agreed with the Taoiseach about what happened to Paul".

Ms Donnelly said the Government should "adopt a neutral line in this murder inquiry and refrain from saying things which add to the pain of the family".

Several politicians from north and south of the Border attended the Crossmaglen meeting including Fine Gael TDs Fergus O'Dowd and Seymour Crawford, and Labour TD Liz McManus.

Fianna Fáil Monaghan councillor Mr McNally said at the meeting that five Fianna Fáil councillors attended the meeting but queried why no Fianna Fáil TD or senator was present.

Apologies were later read out at the meeting from Dermot Ahern, Rory O'Hanlon, Séamus Kirk and Noel Dempsey.

Of Mr Ahern's remarks about the killing Mr McNally said, "I was somewhat disappointed with the statements made by a number of people, including my leader and Taoiseach, at a very early stage in this whole situation.

"I would feel if people don't know the facts they shouldn't comment."

In Lisbon Mr Ahern was asked had he changed his mind on suggestions Mr Quinn was a minor criminal. "Anything that I said - and I didn't say too much - was based on our security intelligence. So up until the last time I checked, the security intelligence hasn't changed," he said.

"But I have no wish to make life harder for the Quinn family and I certainly don't want to do that. But I haven't had any change in the intelligence reports. So any comments I made were just made on what the intelligence I was given," added Mr Ahern.

© 2007 The Irish Times

'Those people who murdered Paul will have that on their conscience'

Raw emotions surfaced at the Quinn Support Group meeting yesterday in Crossmaglen, writes Gerry Moriarty , Northern Editor

The atmosphere was electric for most of the night in Crossmaglen Community Centre, just as it was when Maria Caraher from Cullyhanna rose to speak. This was a night of raw emotions that pitched neighbour against neighbour, brother against brother, and republican against republican.

Ms Caraher was a neighbour of Paul Quinn's parents, Breege and Stephen, who were sitting with other Quinn Support Group committee members on the top table in the hall.

She was from a staunch republican family, a sister of Fergal Caraher who was shot dead in disputed circumstances by the British army in 1990, and a sister also of Michael Caraher, a convicted member of the IRA sniper gang in south Armagh who murdered nine members of the British security forces.

Speaking directly to the Quinns, she recalled the days after Paul Quinn's murder in October. "I went down to the wake and I was talking to Breege," she said. "I said it then, I said it since, and I say it now, and I won't waver from it: I believe that whoever murdered your son should be put behind bars."

She also referred to how she was asked by the family to leave the wake house, prompting James Quinn, Paul's brother, sitting in the row ahead of her to interrupt. He asked her to leave, he said, because at the time she said she did not believe the IRA beat Paul Quinn to death in a Co Monaghan barn.

"I know the IRA murdered him. Local people here know it as well . . . anyone who does not believe that shouldn't be there [ at the wake]," he said.

It was a point he made earlier in the meeting. His brother was "no angel but he was no criminal", as his father had previously said.

"Paul was killed because he fell out with some people who were associated with an organisation that kills people. So, they killed him. It's just that simple."

This was just one of several exchanges in the Crossmaglen Community Centre on Thursday night. The hall was filled to overflowing with more than 300 people. Unlike the meeting in nearby Cullyhanna two weeks earlier, Sinn Féin representatives were present, as were IRA members. The mood was distinctly with the Quinns but there were local people there sympathetic to Sinn Féin.

One such was Declan Murphy, brother of local Sinn Féin MP and Minister Conor Murphy. He said the Quinn campaign was "used and abused by people that have an axe to grind. And that is going to drive this campaign into the ground . . . All I hear tonight is an attack on Sinn Féin".

Chairman Seamus Bellew said he had no axe to grind. He supported the republican ideology but had never supported "IRA methods". He said that in south Armagh he had "put in 20 odd years of pure torture, of fear of the IRA, fear of the British army, and fear of the police, all three".

He said the group was asking people to accept there was an organisation in south Armagh "that signs and executes death warrants . . . We can tell them to stop if we can speak with a single voice".

Aidan Murphy warned against the Quinn group acting as "judge and jury" on who killed Paul Quinn. Pointing across the room at Seamus Murphy - a local man who supports the Quinn group, and is also an SDLP press officer - he said the "SDLP publicity department is driving this campaign. It is actually bragging that there is political gain to be got from the campaign."

Most in the hall would have realised the two men are brothers.

Sinn Féin councillor Terry Hearty said Sinn Féin "totally and utterly condemned" the murder. He also issued a statement yesterday describing the Quinn group as a "so-called justice group". He said the SDLP had assumed control of the group for "electoral advantage".

During the meeting Jim McAllister, himself a disaffected Sinn Féin member, again insisted the group was non-political, adding that Sinn Féin members would attempt to divide the group by attacking him, SDLP councillor and committee member Geraldine Donnelly, and Seamus Murphy.

"They don't like people who ask questions. They don't like people who don't accept the pat answers," he said.

Said Breege Quinn: "Those people who murdered Paul will have that on the their conscience for the rest of their lives. But there are the people who know the people that murdered Paul - they too must have a conscience. And I just don't know how they are getting through because I can hardly sit, stand or walk every day [since Paul was murdered]."

INSIDE POLITICS SATURDAY 15TH DECEMBER

Sir Hugh Orde

Mark Devenport


MD: How important is it for the ability of you and your officers to do the job they want to do on the ground that devolution of policing and justice should go ahead by May of next year?


SHO: Well, policing will continue whether or not devolution takes place. That having been said, I have no difficulty with devolution taking place within the predicted timescale. I think in the long term it is important that policing and justice is controlled by the people who live and work here. That makes sense to me. I think there is a big debate to be had around how it actually works out, what the detail looks like and in particular the relationship between my Policing Board which I answer to and of course the ministers at Stormont. But that I think is all doable.


MD: the DUP’S argument this week was that the IRA Army Council msut go before these justice power can be transferred. When you talk privately to some people in the security sector, they say the element of discipline maintained by the IRA has actually been important in managing the historic changes that have taken place. Do you think now is the right time for the Army Council to go, or could it actually be counter-productive?


SHO: Well, I’m very clear on this. There is one police service in Northern Ireland that does policing, it’s ours, no one else’s. There is no need for any other institution, illegal or legal, to play in that world. The Provisional Army Council has no mandate, it has no legal position and it needs to go, it’s as simple as that.


MD: So the time is right for it?


SHO: Well, I’m not sure the time was ever right for it to exist in the first place, quite frankly. We have to be clear on this now. Everyone has signed up to policing. We are getting ever-increasing confidence from the communities in our policing service. We know we can do better, but we are getting there. And I think we have to focus on that. The old institutions in the past – for whatever reason they existed in the past – need to go. And the Army Council is without doubt one of those.


MD: In terms of the discipline of the IRA members in following the lead that has been given them by Sinn Fein, unionists and indeed others have been concerned about the dreadful murder of Paul Quinn which his family has blamed on the IRA. I know that the Guards are in the lead on this investigation, but at this stage do you believe Provisional IRA members were involved?


SHO: Well, I think one of my New Year resolution will be that we stop labelling people as anything other than criminals. They are criminals and we will deal with them in that sense. I think what we saw on the border was, as you say, a brutal murder carried out outside my jurisdiction. And I am reticent to be talking about a murder which is being so thoroughly investigated by another police force, with our full co-operation and indeed much of the work being carried out on our side of the border. I think everyone’s fairly clear on this. People who were associated with the IRA at some stage were definitely involved in that crime. That does not mean in any way shape or form that that was an authorised event in the way people believe authorised to mean the hierarchy said do it. I think that’s a totally different debate.


MD: So you’re firm that it wasn’t sanctioned, that if people were involved they were involved as individuals?


SHO: Well, what I’m saying is let’s let the Guards carry out the investigation and let’s see what they find, but I’m certain saying at the moment, as I have briefed – as you say – a number of parties, in our judgement there is no evidence currently to say this was an authorised event.


MD: Would you be in any way deterred from labelling this as the work of an organisation given the obviously major political consequences that would follow if that was the conclusion you came to?


SHO: This is where as a Chief Constable I find myself in a unique position. We are consistently asked to talk about events that have political implications. I’ll talk about policing. The political implications are a matter for others to deal with.

Irish Independent

Family of murdered Paul Quinn to step up campaign to find killers

Friday December 14 2007

The family of Paul Quinn, the south Armagh man murdered in County Monaghan in October, said they will step up their campaign to find his killers in the New Year with meetings in London, Belfast and Dublin planned.

They said the murder cannot be hushed up, and they have organised talk with politicians across Britain and Ireland.

After last night's meeting in Crossmaglen, south Armagh, the family said they would be stepping up politician and community action.

The public meetings so far, they said, were intended to give the community a voice in expressing its outrage at the brutal killing.

In the New Year, however, they said, the Quinn family will carry that message to political leaders and opinion-formers in Dublin, London and Belfast.

They have no wish, they said to confront anyone other than those who had viciously slandered the dead man as a criminal.

The family also said the killing was the result of organised action by a local paramilitary unit which continued to function.

breakingnews.ie

Family of murdered Paul Quinn to step up campaign
14/12/2007 - 12:23:51

The family of Paul Quinn, the south Armagh man murdered in Co Monaghan in October, said they will step up their campaign to find his killers in the New Year with meetings in London, Belfast and Dublin.

They said the murder "cannot be hushed up", and they have organised talks with politicians across Britain and Ireland.

After last night's meeting in Crossmaglen, south Armagh, the family said they would be stepping up political and community action.

The public meetings so far, they said, were intended to give the community a voice in expressing its outrage at the brutal killing.

In the New Year, the Quinn family will carry that message to political leaders and opinion-formers in Dublin, London and Belfast.

They said they had no wish to confront anyone other than those who had "viciously slandered" the dead man as a criminal.

The family also said the killing was the result of organised action by a local paramilitary unit which continued to function.

RTÉ

Hundreds show support for Quinn family

Friday, 14 December 2007 15:13

More than 300 people attended a meeting in Crossmaglen last night in support of the family of Paul Quinn.

The 21-year-old was beaten to death by a group of men in a shed in Co Monaghan eight weeks ago.

Three TDs and several Councillors from the Republic travelled to Co Armagh for the meeting. The support group expects that Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern will meet the Quinn family early next week.

Paul Quinn's murder, carried out by a large group of men, continues to cause outrage.

Although the victim lived in Co Armagh, he received his fatal injuries in Co Monaghan, so gardaí have the lead role in the investigation.

To date nobody has been arrested or charged.

The controversy continues about whether republicans were involved and there were several heated exchanges last night.

A number of local Sinn Féin Councillors turned up and said they wanted those responsible brought to justice.

Declan Murphy, a brother of the Sinn Féin MP and Stormont Minister, Conor Murphy, said the campaign was being manipulated for political reasons.

TDs Seymour Crawford, Fergus O'Dowd of Fine Gael and Labour's Liz McManus were present at the meeting.

The support group plans to hold a number of meetings on both sides of the border early next year.

It hopes the Quinn family will have discussions with Dermot Ahern next week.

Ireland.com 14/12/2007 06:24

Quinn group vows to continue campaign

The Quinn Support Group has stated it will campaign to bring those responsible for the murder of Paul Quinn in October to justice.

Over 300 people attended the group's second public meeting in Crossmaglen, south Armagh last night.

The organisation said it now planned to bring its case to Leinster House, Stormont and Westminster.

Mr Quinn (21), from Cullyhanna in south Armagh, was beaten to death in October by a gang of up to 15 men at a remote farm on the Co Monaghan side of the Border. His family has blamed the Provisional IRA.

No one has been charged.

'There's no more need for the IRA now that we have peace'
(Barry McCaffrey, Irish News 13.12.07)

Ahead of a public meeting tonight (Thursday), the parents of murdered Co Armagh man Paul Quinn challenge Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness about "why they still need an IRA". Barry McCaffrey reports

Stephen Quinn stares forlornly from the window of his south Armagh home as the mist rolls down from the nearby hills.

As his granddaughter Nicole plays in another part of the house he gazes at the photograph of his youngest son which has appeared on the front pages of every newspaper in Ireland and Britain over the past two months.

"We won't be celebrating Christmas this year. How could we?" he says matter-of-factly.

It is nearly two months since his youngest son Paul (21) was abducted and beaten to death by a masked gang at an isolated farm just a few short miles away on the southern side of the border.

Stephen Quinn and his wife Breige remain convinced that the gang who murdered their son can still be brought to justice, despite nearly two months having passed without any arrests.

"The gardai and the police have done everything they can. We have no complaints about them," he says.

"They can't tell us everything they're doing but we accept that they're working away behind the scenes.

"We have to believe that they will bring Paul's killers to justice sooner rather than later, otherwise we just couldn't go on.

"We have to believe that they won't let them get away with it."

Recalling the last time he saw his son alive, he says: "I'd come back to the house on the Saturday afternoon with a friend and Paul made us tea while he put bacon on for himself.

"The last time I saw Paul alive was when he left the house to collect a friend."

Mr Quinn first learned that his son had been attacked as he returned home from evening Mass.

"My son James stopped me on the road and told me that Paul had got a beating and was in hospital and that I should go home quick.

"At first I thought it was people exaggerating and that he'd be ok but when I got home Breige and Paul's sister Cathy were waiting.

"By the time we got to the hospital in Drogheda Paul was dead.

"We never got the chance to say goodbye."

The dead man's family believe that IRA members were responsible for their son's murder, a claim rejected by Sinn Féin.

Sinn Féin claims its politicians were asked not to attend Paul's funeral.

One Sinn Féin councillor visited the Quinns' home while Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams sent a letter of condolence to Paul's parents.

However, the Quinns remain unconvinced and have challenged republicans to cooperate fully with the murder investigation.

On Tuesday DUP assembly member Jeffrey Donaldson warned that policing and justice powers could not be transferred to the Stormont assembly if it was proven that the IRA leadership had sanctioned Paul Quinn's murder.

While welcoming Mr Donaldson's support for their campaign, Stephen Quinn says he does not want his son's murder to be used as a "political football".

"We never had any interest in politics and never will," he said.

"The only thing we want is justice for Paul.

"We welcome any support for our campaign but we don't want Paul's murder used for party politics. That's not what this is about."

While the Quinn family say they will not allow their son's murder to be used for political point scoring they are adamant that the IRA was responsible for his death.

"We've been told that it wasn't sanctioned by the leadership but that there were members or former IRA members involved," his father says.

"I don't believe they actually went out to kill Paul.

"I think they set out to make an example of him.

"They wanted to show that the IRA is in charge of south Armagh and no-one else.

"But at the end of the day they killed him. They broke nearly every bone in his body.

"They robbed me and Breige of a son and Paul of his life."

Mrs Quinn says she can see no reason why the IRA continues to exist.

"People trusted Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness when they said they wanted peace.

"Well they've got that now, so why do they need an IRA?

"There's no need for the boys hiding in the ditches anymore but they don't want to give up control down here.

"They need to leave people alone so that we can get on with our lives.

"There's no more need for the IRA."

Stephen Quinn admits that his son was "no saint" but denies his murder was the result of a falling-out between criminal gangs.

"I have challenged the people who said this to produce the evidence that Paul was a criminal," he says.

"The people who killed my son are the criminals, not Paul."

He welcomes support from the sisters of murdered east Belfast man Robert McCartney, who have said they will attend a public meeting in support of the Quinn family in Crossmaglen tonight.

"We have had letters and cards from all over Ireland and beyond.

"People who we've never met have sent us letters telling us they support us and telling us to be strong."

Paul's father admits that his family have found it hard to cope since the murder.

"We just take every day as it comes now.

"Some days its hard to get up out

of bed but you have to force yourself.

"Most of the time you've just got this feeling of numbness inside you."

As she dabs a tear from her eye Mrs Quinn questions the morals of her son's killers.

"I just wonder how the ones who killed Paul will feel on Christmas morning.

"I wonder how they can sleep at night.

"I wonder how they can look at themselves in the mirror.

"I wonder if they're happy with what they've done."

Irish News 11.12.07
Sisters to join support group
(Margaret Canning, Irish News)

Two sisters of Robert McCartney will attend a meeting of a group set up to support the family of murdered south Armagh man Paul Quinn.

Paula McCartney last night (Monday) confirmed she and her sister Catherine would attend the meeting of the group in Crossmaglen on Thursday.

Paul Quinn was beaten to death by a gang of men in an outhouse close to Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, in October.

His family have said they believe the IRA were involved in the killing but Sinn Féin said no republicans were involved and the killing was linked to a criminal dispute.

Robert McCartney (33) was stabbed and beaten to death by a gang outside Magennis' bar in Belfast almost three years ago. His sisters have claimed those responsible were in the IRA and led a high-profile campaign for information.

"We are going there to hear the group's objectives and hear what their views are," Ms McCartney said.

"From what we know, Paul Quinn's murder echoes very much Robert's murder. The statements which Sinn Féin made after Paul Quinn's murder are word for word the same as after Robert's murder. We did say at that time that this would happen again and I just wonder who will be next."

The meeting, the second to be held by the Quinn Support Group, will take place in Crossmaglen Community Centre at 8pm on Thursday.

Four Sinn Féin councillors in the Slieve Gullion area – who a spokesman for the group said had not contacted Mr Quinn's parents – have also been invited.

The spokesman said they had also invited chair man of the Newy and Mourne District Policing Partnership Brendan Curran, the Crossmaglen Community Safety group and TDs and councillors from Co Louth and Co Monaghan.

The group said it would also organise a third public meeting for mid-January while private meetings with political, community and Church leaders on both sides of the border had also been scheduled.
 

BBC website 11.12.07

DUP warning over IRA 'structures'

There will be no devolution of policing and justice powers to the NI Executive without complete dismantling of the IRA's structure, a DUP MP has said.

Jeffrey Donaldson warned that the IRA's so-called army council would have to be destroyed.

He was speaking after the chief constable met a DUP delegation to discuss the murder of Paul Quinn and recent dissident republican attacks.

The MP said dissidents were planning more attacks before Christmas.

Dissidents were blamed for attacks on two police officers in recent weeks.

In October, south Armagh man Paul Quinn, 21, was beaten to death in farm outbuildings across the border in County Monaghan.

His family blamed the IRA for the killing, however, Sinn Fein has denied republican involvement.

Mr Donaldson said Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde told them that while there was "no indication" it was authorised by the IRA leadership there were "IRA members involved".

Mr Donaldson said: "We have made it absolutely clear that there is no room for private armies in a situation where you have the assembly operating.

"It is unfinished business, it is business that needs to be finished and resolved."

Mr Donaldson said it was hoped the First Minister Ian Paisley would meet the Quinn family soon.

He said the DUP had made it clear that it wanted "full disclosure" of all information regarding the murder.

"If it is shown that the Provisional IRA authorised and executed the murder of Paul Quinn there will be serious repercussions," he said.

Quinn family deeply dissatisfied with Adams

(by Suzanne Breen, Sunday Tribune 9.12.07)

The family of murdered south Armagh man, Paul Quinn, have said they are deeply dissatisfied with the response of Sinn Féin president, Gerry Adams, to their son's death.

The Quinns were speaking to the Sunday Tribune after receiving a letter from Adams whom they accused of criminalising their son and adding to their grief.

Quinn, 21, from Cullyhanna, was lured to a farm near Oram, Co Monaghan, where he was beaten to death by up to eight men with iron bars and nail-studded cudgels in October.

Republican sources told the Sunday Tribune that the attack was ordered by the 'officer commanding' the Provisional IRA in south Armagh and approved by an army council member from the area. Quinn had been involved in several confrontations with Provisional IRA-related figures and their associates.

Sinn Féin has described the murder as a falling out between "criminals" and "fuel-launderers". In a letter to Quinn's parents, Stephen and Briege, Adams expressed his condolences over the "dreadful murder" which he said deserved "the strongest condemnation".

Anyone with information should contact the Police Service of Northern Ireland or gardai and no effort should be spared in ensuring those responsible faced "due process", he said.

However, Adams continued: "I note from some press reports that Paul's father is reported as accusing me of 'blackening' your son's name with allegations of criminality.

"I wish to assure you that at no point have I said anything which should be misconstrued in this way. In my remarks to the media after his murder, I said that, in my view, his death was linked to fuel-smuggling involving criminals."

Paul Quinn's father Stephen said: "Gerry Adams' words offer our family no comfort, indeed they have increased our distress. Far from withdrawing his party from the position that our son was a criminal, he has actually reinforced that position and repeated the allegations. Paul was not a criminal and his murder had nothing to do with criminality."

In his letter, Gerry Adams told the Quinns he was confident there was "no republican involvement" in their son's murder. Stephen Quinn said: "We strongly challenge that.The world and his wife know that our son's murder was Provisional IRA linked. Gerry Adams' denial is unbelievable. We want the truth about what happened to our son and we won't be going away until we get it."

Over 200 people attended a meeting of the Quinn support group in Cullyhanna last week. Another meeting is due to be held in Crossmaglen on Thursday night.

Sunday Independent 9.12.07

By Jim Cusack
Sunday December 09 2007

One of the key suspects who is believed to have delivered the fatal blows with an iron bar to the young south Armagh man, Paul Quinn, was a Sinn Fein worker at the time of the murder, it has emerged.

The man, in his early 20s, was named in statements which were given to gardai investigating the murder. A house was subsequently searched and the man, a member of a well known republican family with close ties to both Sinn Fein and the IRA, is expected to be formally questioned in the near future.

The man was part of the IRA unit which had been tracking the 21-year-old for weeks before he was lured to a disused cattle shed at Oram, Co Monaghan just over the Border from his home in Cullyhanna, Co Armagh on October 20 last.

In the immediate aftermath of the murder the Sinn Fein leadership issued a succession of statements and made TV appearances denouncing the murder as the work of "criminals" and said there was no republican involvement. This denial of "republican" involvement was welcomed by both governments.

However, Garda sources have confirmed that at least one of the prime suspects in the killing was, at the time, an active Sinn Fein worker as well as being a member of the IRA in south Armagh. His family is also well known as being prominently involved in smuggling and diesel laundering.

According to local sources it now appears that the south Armagh IRA had a list of up to a dozen local young men who were suspected of "anti-social" activities but that almost all were taken off a list for a punishment beating because their families had links to the IRA. Paul Quinn's family has no IRA links.

The killing has created severe divisions in the area extending even into the local GAA and there is no sign of the campaign by family supporters to have the killers brought to justice subsiding.

The campaigners have challenged Sinn Fein over why, despite publicly denouncing the murder, none of its local representatives -- including the local MP and Stormont minister, Conor Murphy -- attended Paul Quinn's funeral.

The Quinn Support Group said: "Over the last few weeks they have expressed strong opinions on everything from rates relief to the Warm Homes Scheme and social housing, as they should, but on the matter of brutal premeditated murder they have nothing to say.

"These councillors knocked on all our doors at election times, pledging their support for us if we would give our support to them. And we did. But when payback time came -- when a family was faced with just about the most horrific event anyone is ever likely to face -- they were nowhere to be seen."

And the local SDLP MLA, Dominic Bradley challenged Sinn Fein's Conor Murphy over his statement that he had met the local IRA leadership who had assured him there was no IRA involvement.

Mr Bradley said: "Conor Murphy could start by telling the gardai and the PSNI who gave him 'very solid' assurances that no Provos were involved. It is for the police, and not politicians, to assess the value, if any, to be given to such assurances. We have heard them before. Gerry Adams got 'solid assurances' when Frank Kerr was shot dead at Newry Post Office, and he got more when Detective Garda Jerry McCabe was shot dead in Adare.

"He (Murphy) should also tell the police where and when the assurances were given.

"Did he drop into South Armagh Battalion HQ for a chat in the officers' mess, or did he go straight to the OC of the Cullyhanna Unit? Did he use the ministerial car? If he did, the ministerial driver should be questioned about where he went and who he met.

"Political interference in a murder inquiry is a very serious matter, particularly at ministerial level. Conor Murphy should look to his pledge of office. On my reading it does not permit ministerial consultation with criminal paramilitary gang leaders who may themselves be suspects in a murder inquiry."

Sinn Fein last week continued to deny there was any "republican" involvement in the killing.

- Jim Cusack

Sunday World

09.12.07

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Sunday World

02.12.07

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Irish News 01.12.07

SF's silence deafening say Quinn supporters
(Diana Rusk, Irish News)

A group set up to support the family of murder victim Paul Quinn has accused Sinn Féin councillors in south Armagh of "deafening silence" about his death.

The Quinn Support Group last night (Friday) called on the four councillors representing the area to speak out about the killing of the 21-year-old man.

A statement criticised Terry Hearty, Colman Burns, Anthony Flynn, and PJ McDonald for not attending the victim's funeral or a public meeting in Cullyhanna this week.

Mr Quinn's family have said they believe that the IRA was responsible for beating him to death at a farm shed in Co Monaghan last month, but Sinn Féin has insisted no republicans were involved and suggested the killing was linked to a criminal dispute.

A statement from the group said the councillors should state their views on the murder.

"The silence of these four councillors on the murder of Paul Quinn is now deafening," the group said.

"Over the last few weeks they have expressed strong opinions on everything from rates relief to the Warm Homes Scheme and social housing, as they should, but on the matter of brutal premeditated murder they have nothing to say."

The group also questioned why none of the councillors attended Mr Quinn's funeral, a memorial Mass, or a public meeting at which his family appealed for information.

"These councillors knocked all our doors at election times, pledging their support for us if we would give our support to them. And we did," the statement said.

"But when payback time came – when a family was faced with just about the most horrific event anyone is ever likely to face – they were nowhere to be seen."

However, one of the councillors named by the group, PJ McDonald, insisted their position was "well known and clear" and that he "fully" supported the Quinn family.

"You can only have one opinion on this murder and that is that it is a dastardly act, whatever the reason behind it," he said.

"We hope whoever carried out this murder is caught and anyone with evidence should go to the guards or the police."

Mr McDonald said he did not attend the group's public meeting because a party decision was made to support the family and not the Quinn Support Group.

He added that he did not attend the funeral because members of the group "made it clear" republicans were not welcome.

Meanwhile, SDLP assembly member Dominic Bradley said Newry and Armagh MP and executive minister Conor Murphy should give police and gardai more information about his party's assurances that republicans were not involved.

Irish Times
30.11.07
Quinns want IRA 'murder machine' dismantled

Such public criticism of IRA in republican south Armagh is unprecedented, writes Gerry Moriarty.

A crowd, which attended a Paul Quinn Support Group meeting in Cullyhanna, has heard calls for an end to the local IRA structure, which was portrayed as exerting a brutal and authoritarian control in south Armagh.

Sinn Féin leaders insist the IRA was not implicated in the beating to death of 21-year-old Paul Quinn from Cullyhanna in Co Monaghan last month. But speakers at the meeting on Wednesday night made clear they were convinced that local IRA members were involved.

Yesterday the Quinn group called for the dismantling of the local "murder machine", adding that it had no wish to use the issue to bring down the powersharing Northern Executive and Assembly. It said its acknowledgment that the killing was not sanctioned at any IRA "organisational level" should ensure the stability of Stormont and in turn Sinn Féin should concede IRA members were involved in the murder.

Paul Quinn's father Stephen thanked the crowd of more than 200 in Cullyhanna Community Centre for attending. "We want justice and you are helping us fight for that justice," he said.

Paul Quinn's mother Briege spoke with quiet but intense feeling. A number of times during the meeting she quietly sobbed. At the outset she stressed: "I want to plead again and again for no retaliation for Paul's death. Please don't break windows or intimidate people because you are hurting them but you are also hurting us too. We have been hurt enough. Please let the PSNI and the Garda do the work. We want justice for Paul through the courts and no other way." One minute's silence was observed.

Paul's brother James said he recalled signs that appeared on local roads during the hunger strikes stating that those in "Long Kesh were not criminals".

"Well, my brother is not a criminal. He hadn't 2p. They said there was a criminal fight or a feud. But when you have a dozen cowards in boiler suits and balaclavas with iron bars who killed a fellow with 2p in his pocket - what feud was that? There was no feud, just brutality and murder."

Local man Seamus Bellew said a "well-organised gang" was behind the murder, which was "so sure of their grip on our community - yes, our community - that they think they can get away with murder".

"All this business about Gerry Adams or [local Sinn Féin MP] Conor Murphy saying, 'co-operate with the police'. They [the killers] are laughing at that. Gerry Adams doesn't tell them what to do: around here they tell him. They think, 'keep our heads down for another few weeks then all this will be forgotten, and it will be back to business as usual'. You know, the terrible thing is they are probably right."

And, obviously referring to the local IRA, he added, "they have never been challenged by the whole community. They see no reason why things should be different now. This business about helping the police is all right up in Stormont but not around here."

Mr Bellew said two things were necessary to achieve justice. First, people must come forward to the police, not just with information, but with evidence.

"The other thing is this. The whole community must show that things have changed, that the old deal is gone, that solidarity against the Brits won't save them when they turn on one of our own. Remember, we owe them nothing, because in 30 long years the Brits did many bad things but they never did anything like this."

Gerry McMahon complained about a high level of so-called punishment beatings in the area. "We need to ensure that our young people are not going to be intimidated anymore, and that they are going to be looked after by us - if we can and if they want - to ensure that they can live in peace, and keep their heads up."

Another south Armagh man, who later said he did not want to be named publicly, also spoke about 10 punishment beatings that happened in the broad south Armagh area over recent years. He spoke about people who could never work again they were so badly beaten. He spoke about one young man who was beaten "one kick from death, one more kick and they were gone".

"There is no call for this in south Armagh," he added. And also pretty obviously referring to the local IRA he said, "the people of south Armagh has stood along with these people for the past 35 or 40 years, through the civil rights movement, through the whole struggle. Nobody turned on them; everybody gave them the support that they needed, and this is what we get: turning around and kicking and killing their own people. It's not nationalism; it's not republicanism: it is fascism, it is Stalinism."

The chairman of the group, Jim McAllister, who was a local Sinn Féin leader before becoming disaffected from the leadership, said he "felt ashamed" for not speaking up against such incidents. There were people who felt similarly, he knew. "If people had spoken up much sooner than now maybe we could have saved the life of Paul Quinn. But we are speaking up now, and that is very important," he added.

There were no Sinn Féin representatives in the hall. Local SDLP Assembly member Dominic Bradley, pledging his support, repeated his comment that the people who killed Paul Quinn were "no ad hoc" group.

He said Sinn Féin's attempt to portray the murder as part of a criminal feud was an attempt to blacken Paul Quinn. "But I think that lie has been exposed for what it was."

Another speaker said campaigners were portrayed as "somehow enemies of the peace process. I want to make this very clear right now that nobody in the Quinn family and support group has the slightest interest in bringing down Stormont, or anything else, except murder. We are not enemies of anyone or anything, except those who murdered Paul, and those who want to provide cover for his killers."

Yesterday the Quinn support group issued a statement, which it said would permit Sinn Féin "to retreat from its increasingly ridiculous and isolated position on the Paul Quinn murder without further loss of face for the sake of the peace process. We say to the governments and to the DUP, let Sinn Féin continue in government, but let them tell the truth. Let us simply all agree that the killing was not sanctioned at any organisational level which should have political consequences at Stormont. Let us also agree that we have a murder machine in our community and it must be dismantled for ever."

Irish Independent

30.11.07

Locals will break code of silence on border killing

By Tom Brady and Ciaran Byrne
Friday November 30 2007

Residents of south Armagh have indicated to gardai that they are willing to travel across the border to be interviewed as part of the investigation into the murder of Paul Quinn.

Senior garda officers confirmed last night they were continuing to focus on the suspected involvement of Provisional IRA activists and sympathisers in the savage killing.

And they revealed that a massive community response has boosted their prospects of tracking down the killers of truck driver Mr Quinn, who was battered to death near the border last month.

The 21-year-old victim died in hospital after being beaten with iron bars and cudgels by a gang of up to 10 men. He had been lured to a shed on a farm near the Co Monaghan village of Oram on Saturday, October 22.

Solidarity

Mr Quinn's father Stephen repeated his belief that the IRA was responsible, as 200 people gathered in the Co Armagh village of Cullyhanna in support of a campaign to bring Paul's killers to justice on Wednesday night.

"It's about control. Paul got into fights with two of them, connected to the IRA. There's no one else who could do such a thing around this area," he told BBC's 'Newsnight'.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said he believes that "criminals" killed Mr Quinn and he has also asserted his belief there was no IRA involvement, a view shared by the British government and Sinn Fein.

But International Monitoring Commission member John Grieve, a former Scotland Yard commander in charge of anti-terrorism, has said he believes the IRA was involved.

It is understood the IMC does not believe the murder was directly sanctioned by the IRA's leadership, but the body does believe that it involved local people who are members or former members of the IRA.

Report

It has also emerged that the IMC has not, however, been asked to produce an early report into the killing.

The Irish and British governments asked the IMC to produce an urgent report after the murder of Robert McCartney, outside a Belfast pub three years ago, but ministers have not done so this time. Instead, the Quinn family will have to wait for the IMC's next six-monthly report, due next April.

Since the cross-border investigation began, gardai have been attempting to convince the local communities to break the code of silence imposed on them in the past by the Provisional IRA and help them in their hunt for the killers.

Mr Quinn had been told to leave his native area after he had earlier clashed with a republican and the son of another republican. But he ignored the warnings and continued to live in Cullyhanna in south Armagh.

He was known to have associated with a group of young fuel smugglers along the Armagh-Monaghan border.

Gardai believe some of those associates may be able to provide information, and that some people are prepared to ignore threats.

Senior garda officers said last night they were receiving excellent co-operation from the PSNI and the forces were working together on house-to-house inquiries and on joint checkpoints.

- Tom Brady and Ciaran Byrne

Irish Independent

30.11.07

Ahern may look a fool if IRA is blamed

By Ciaran Byrne
Friday November 30 2007

IS it peace at any price? Are the Irish and British government's willfully ignoring the involvement of the IRA in the savage murder of Paul Quinn?

It's beginning to look that way, if the claims of Mr Quinn's anguished family and the Independent Monitoring Commission are to be believed.

Take this statement from John Grieve, the former commander of Scotland Yard's anti-terrorism unit, commenting on the killing.

"We do believe that those who were involved in the attack on him -- in his brutal murder -- included people who are members or former members or have associations with members or former members of the Provisional IRA."

Grieve's early opinion and that of his three IMC colleagues seems vastly, and disturbingly, at odds, with what Bertie Ahern and the British government say.

The next IMC report, which is due in April 2008, will address in detail the circumstances of how Mr Quinn, from Cullyhanna in Co Armagh, came to be beaten to death by the IRA lynch mob in a cowshed in Co Monaghan.

Murder

The murder happened in this State. But so far, there has been silence from the Irish Government, apparently paralysed by fear of upsetting Sinn Fein and the fragile balance of the North's government.

The quest for justice has been left to Mr Quinn's dignified family and their growing support group living in south Armagh where the ruthless rule of a number of IRA "military families" holds sway.

In a stark report on BBC's 'Newsnight', local people said the beatings are a regular occurence and that IRA families have replaced the rule of law with Stalinist rough justice.

Almost 200 people met in the community centre in Cullyhanna on Wednesday night, a show of unity to encourage people to provide any information about the murder.

Yet Bertie Ahern and his counterparts in Britain appear to be blocking their ears to all the available evidence, insisting, on Sinn Fein's say so, that "criminals", not members of the IRA, killed the 21-year-old.

The lack of official urgency from the politicians is telling.

The IMC reports every six months but it has the power to deliver reports sooner if a request is made by either the Irish or British governments.

Savage

That happened in the aftermath of Robert McCartney's savage murder outside a Belfast pub. But in the case of Mr Quinn there has been no such request.

As the gardai and the PSNI continue their inquiries, local people continue to live in fear with some telling 'Newsnight' that the IRA beatings are routine.

"This is a desperately dangerous place to live. They have different ways of getting to you. Some of these lads are one kick away from death," one man told the progra