Murder of Paul Quinn

Paul Quinn (c. 1986 – 20 October 2007) was a young man from County Armagh in Northern Ireland who was murdered in 2007. His family subsequently accused the Provisional Irish Republican Army of his murder, though no one has ever been convicted in relation to his death.

Attack, torture, and murder in Tullycoora

On 20 October 2007, a native of Cullyhanna, County Armagh, Paul Quinn, then 21 years old, was lured to a farm at Tullycoora, near Oram in County Monaghan, where three of his friends were held hostage. When he arrived at the farm, a group of some ten or more men beat him with iron and nail-studded bars for upwards of half an hour, breaking every major bone in his body.[1] Quinn was taken at around 18:00 to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, where he died two hours later.[2]

Accusations of Quinn family

Quinn's parents, Breege and Stephen, have said that members of the Provisional IRA South Armagh Brigade were responsible. Their son had had "run-ins with the Cullyhanna ASU on a number of occasions", and had "floored" the son of one of the active service unit (ASU) leaders in a pub row.

Following the incident, the mother of the young man appeared at Quinn's family home with a hammer in her hand and told the family their son would have to leave Ireland.[3][4][5] The murder is believed to have arisen as a result of a dispute between Quinn and the local IRA.[6]

IMC report

In November 2007, the Independent Monitoring Commission's John Grieve, stated that "We do believe that those involved ... included people who are members or former members, or have associations with members or former members, of the Provisional IRA."[7] However, the report also found that there was no evidence that the organisation's leadership orchestrated or had any knowledge of the killing.[8]

Further reports

An Irish Independent report of September 2007 stated:[2]

The people believed locally to have been responsible for directing the murder of Paul Quinn, who had every major bone in his body broken in a prolonged beating with iron bars and pickaxe handles by nine men, are brothers, both long-serving IRA men who are heavily involved in fuel smuggling. They are also closely associated with Thomas Murphy, the local IRA boss who holds sway over what is now a crime empire in the border area.

In October 2011, his parents were featured in an RTÉ news report, stating they still believe people living locally "know all about" the murder and have called on them to go to the Garda Síochána or the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) to "get it off their chest".

Reactions

Seán Cardinal Brady, Archbishop of Armagh, spoke out against the murder and appealed for the arrest of those involved.[9]

In November 2007, the Ulster Unionist Party peer, Lord Laird of Artigarvan, invoked parliamentary privilege in the House of Lords to name the alleged killers, stating that the killing arose from a dispute between Quinn and the son of a man who he described as "a local IRA chief".[10] He also raised at Westminster allegations by the Quinn family and other locals that one of the men used as 'bait' in the Quinn death is under threat from the South Armagh Provisionals.[11]

Both Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness condemned the murder.[12]

Controversial comments

In November 2007 Bertie Ahern remarked in the Dáil that based on reports from the Gárdaí and PSNI that "this action was due to criminality".[13][12] The following month Ahern backtracked, saying he "did not in any way intend to make an issue out of the character of Paul Quinn and I am happy to make that clear to the House".[12] He added that the only criminals involved were those who had killed Paul Quinn.[12]

Shortly after Paul Quinns death, Conor Murphy said in an interview with Spotlight that "Paul Quinn was involved with smuggling and criminality and I think that everyone accepts that."[14][12][15]

During the 2020 Irish general election Conor Murphys' comments were an issue.[16]

Mary Lou McDonald said on 3 February 2020 that she would ask Conor Murphy to talk to Pauls' mother Breege.[17] She also said that she did not believe that it had been said that Paul Quinn was a criminal, but that the best thing was for Conor Murphy to speak to Pauls' mother.[17] Breege Quinn said that her son was definitely not involved in criminality and called on Conor Murphy to withdraw his remarks and make a public apology to the Quinn family.[17] On 6 February 2020 Conor Murphy spoke to RTÉ and said that he had withdrawn the remarks he had made in 2007 and apologised to the Quinn family.[15] Breege Quinn repeated her call for him to resign as Minister for Finance at Stormont.[15] She said he "should finish off and get justice" for the Quinn family.[15] She said he should "go and tell the PSNI and the Gardaí exactly who he was speaking to" in the IRA after the murder.[15] She said she would not meet Conor Murphy until he "comes out publicly saying that he is going to the PSNI to give the names of the IRA that he spoke to in Cullyhanna".[15] Mary Lou McDonald said that she had made an honest mistake when she said that she did not believe that Mr Murphy had said that Mr Quinn was involved in criminality.[15] She had only realised her mistake when she saw the BBC Spotlight programme on which the comments were made.[15]

Breege Quinn denied that her family had suddenly started asking questions because of the election but she has been fighting for the past 13 years for justice.[15]

The general election was on 8 February 2020.

On 17 February 2020 the Quinn family visited Stormont, accompanied by members of the SDLP.[18]

Discovery of body of Gerard Evans

The murder of Paul Quinn led indirectly to the discovery of the body of another victim of the Provisional IRA, Gerard Evans, a 24 year old from Crossmaglen, who had gone missing after being kidnapped by the organisation in 1979. In 2009, the Sunday Tribune newspaper received information from an ex-IRA member about the location of Evans' body, who stated that he had been influenced in coming forward by the circumstances of Paul Quinn's death. The information provided led to the location of Evans' body in 2010.[19]

See also

References
  1. "Paul Quinn: Why does his murder still hang over Sinn Féin?". BBC News. 5 February 2020. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
  2. "Provos still getting away with murder and with a barrage of shamfaced lies". Belfast Telegraph.
  3. "Loss of face led to brutal IRA killing". Irish Independent. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  4. "SF denials on savage killing fall on deaf ears". Irish Independent. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  5. "Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams' slur on our murdered boy". Irish Independent. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  6. "Paul Quinn's mother tells Haass post-Good Friday Agreement victims must be remembered". BBC News. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  7. "Violence - Draft List of Deaths Related to the Conflict in 2007". CAIN. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  8. "Victim's father in agreement with IMC report". 2 May 2008. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  9. "Archbishop Seán Brady's statement on the murder of Paul Quinn". catholicbishops.ie. 23 October 2007. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
  10. House of Lords Hansard, 12 November 2007, Column 310
  11. Henry McDonald (27 January 2008). "Update on Quinn murder". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  12. McGrath, Dominic (5 February 2020). "The 2007 killing of Paul Quinn: A timeline of the investigation and the political fallout". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  13. O'Halloran, Marie (15 November 2007). "Garda says Quinn killing a criminal feud - Ahern". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  14. "Paul Quinn: Conor Murphy's comments about murdered man". BBC News. 5 February 2020. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  15. Libreri, Samantha; O'Brien, Fergal; Press Association (6 February 2020). "Murphy apologises to Paul Quinn's family for 'criminality' remarks". RTÉ News. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  16. "Who was Paul Quinn and why has his murder become an election issue?". The Irish Times.
  17. Libreri, Samantha (3 February 2020). "McDonald to ask Murphy to speak to Paul Quinn's family over criminality remarks". RTÉ News. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  18. Hurley, Sandra (17 February 2020). "Sinn Féin's Murphy under further pressure on Quinn apology". RTÉ News. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  19. 'Masked IRA man's map leads to a body in Louth', 'Sunday Tribune, 17 October 2010.
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