Close slams Short for excusing IRA slaughter

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 6th Oct 2004

ALLIANCE Assembly member Seamus Close (Lagan Valley) has condemned comments by Labour MP Clare Short who has claimed that the IRA "never targeted civilians" in an interview with Gulf News (Source: http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/print2.asp?ArticleID=134040)

Mr Close stated:

"I find Ms Short's comments simply incredible. Perhaps she has been away from Northern Ireland for too long and has developed a rose-tinted view of history, but she does the innocent victims of IRA terrorism a gross disservice by saying the IRA never targeted civilians.

"She clearly does not remember the Enniskillen massacre, the Disappearance of a mother called Jean McConville; or how Patsy Gillespie was used as a human bomb. Perhaps she can also outline the threat presented by the Collie Club in the La Mon hotel, where innocent people were incinerated.

"Sadly her comments are typical of the revisionist nonsense that is being churned out in the post-conflict era to justify past atrocities. Nothing ever justifies the slaughter of innocent human beings, whether in Ireland, Iraq or Afghanistan."