62 Comments

• barneyjo | Feb 12, 2012, 05:59 PM EST

  @seanomelb - I think we all have the potential to see the world in that way; very often without realising it; I know I most definitely do. How does the song go; "You say Tomayto I say Tomatoe" :)

• seanomelb | Feb 12, 2012, 04:51 PM EST

  A fair and balanced statement barneyjoe I fear some posters live in a black and white world fed by their personal prejudices.

• barneyjo | Feb 11, 2012, 05:56 PM EST

  Oh I dont believe I am playing any game; just offering my own viewpoint for what its worth. And besides seanomelb like the rest of us is bound to treat the efficacy of information from any source, even from Sinn Fein spokesmen.with a modicum of suspicion, and cynicism. Lets face it, if you want to consider Jean McConville as the "Enemy within" you cant reasonably do that without looking at the actions of people like Denis Donaldson, Freddy Scapatici and others who were intimately linked with the Republican Movement in Belfast during this period, and who had a profound influence on the development of Sinn Fein's political strategy; certainly so in the case of Denis Donaldson, who as it turns out, was the eyes and ears of the British Government inside the Sinn Fein group at Stormont. And who knows? if there was a leak of intel during this period in West Belfast, it could just as easily have been either of these Gentlemen, as a widowed mother who may well have been an easy target to have shunned by the community and framed to cover the tracks of the real mole; the real "Enemy Within"!!

• barneyjo | Feb 11, 2012, 05:55 PM EST

  Oh I dont believe I am playing any game; just offering my own viewpoint for what its worth. And besides seanomelb like the rest of us is bound to treat the efficacy of information from any source, even from Sinn Fein spokesmen. Lets face it, if you want to consider Jean McConville as the "Enemy within" you cant reasonably do that without looking at the actions of people like Denis Donaldson, Freddy Scapatici and others who were intimately linked with the Republican Movement in Belfast during this period, and who had a profound influence on the development of Sinn Fein's political strategy; certainly so in the case of Denis Donaldson, who as it turns out, was the eyes and ears of the British Government inside the Sinn Fein group at Stormont. And who knows? if there was a leak of intel during this period in West Belfast, it could just as easily have been either of these Gentlemen, as a widowed mother who may well have been an easy target to have shunned by the community and framed to cover the tracks of the real mole; the real "Enemy Within"!!

• Realist | Feb 11, 2012, 04:54 PM EST

  seanomelb: Lol...."another view"? You made statements about Mrs McConville that you cannot substantiate with either proof or evidence. You are a transparent back-peddling laughing stock my friend. Is any of this sinking in?

• seanomelb | Feb 11, 2012, 04:33 PM EST

  You could be correct barneyjoe my posts were to give another view on Jean Mc Conville's demise as we seem only to hear from the anti Irish lobby who blame everything on Sinn Fein and garner their information from suspect sources. To be fair to O"loan she made a decision based on the facts presented to her.

• FallsRNat | Feb 11, 2012, 06:17 AM EST

  barneyjo - dont play his game, he is a typical RA sympathiser who churns out complete utter rubbish about innocent victims of the trouble, he hopes if enough 'mud' sticks, then somehow the people will believe Mrs McConville was a spy, let me assure you, even here in the heart of the Falls, nobody believes it

• barneyjo | Feb 10, 2012, 07:03 PM EST

  On the basis of what I know of Jean McConvilles life in West Belfast in 1972, she wasnt exactly welcomed with open arms by that community due to her protestant heritage. Her husband provided a certainty when he was alive, but after his death, I dont think too many favours came her way. I am quite prepared to believe that if the local volunteers had been "leeching"intel and suffering because of it, the community found an ideal scapegoat in the personage of Jean McConville, because of who she was and where she came from. Of course it is always possible that she had provided info to the British Forces; on balance though I dont think that she did, and my reason for believing that is I dont believe that Nuala O'loan would have put her name to a report which exonerated Jean McConville if she wasnt sure of her facts. Rather, she was a victim of circumstance who was in the wrong place at the wrong time!!

• Realist | Feb 10, 2012, 06:09 PM EST

  seanomelb: What's to misread? Yet again, you've been 'busted'. Lol...my friend, your post of 30th January 2012 @ 10:47 is perfectly clear and speaks for itself. Therefore I will ask again, would you please support your statement with proof/evidence? What part of this do you not understand?

• seanomelb | Feb 10, 2012, 05:37 PM EST

  Realist you fail to read ALL my post and I do not intend to repeat myself.You also misread what I've said and I have no intention in discussing your agressive post.My article is as valid as yours we may differ but using ignorant terms like "liar" diminishes your right to converse.

• Realist | Feb 10, 2012, 06:05 AM EST

  seanomelb: As Dan already pointed out, on 30th January 2012 @ 10:47 you stated, and I quote, "One wonders if McConville had not spied for the would she still be alive today enjoying her children and grand children. How many nationalists were killed or incarcerated(if any) by information given by Mrs McConville to hjer British handlers." A straight question: Would you please support this statement with proof/evidence? Otherwise there are only 2 possible conclusions....either you do not know what you are talking about or you are a liar. It is as simple as that.

• Realist | Feb 10, 2012, 05:57 AM EST

  seanomelb: The facts....in July 2006, the official Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan stated after an investigation by her office that there is no evidence that Jean McConville had ever passed information on to the security forces. The Provisional IRA have admitted that they executed her - also a fact.

• seanomelb | Feb 10, 2012, 04:07 AM EST

  Barney I agree with the general thrust of your argument and respect your opinion on this matter.

• seanomelb | Feb 10, 2012, 04:06 AM EST

  I gave you proof your flawed "proof" was just that flawed.The northern authorities dismissed that Mrs McConville was executed because she cradled a dying soldier.She was not a protestant as you stated (not that it really matters and Mitchell McLaughlin did accuse her of spying and she was warned on numerous occasions.McConville was executed/murdered by persons unknown most likely the IRA. A sad moment during difficult times.

• barneyjo | Feb 09, 2012, 06:39 PM EST

  seanomelb - Oh I remember it all, because I lived through it; some of the major events were very personal to me. As a young man and not so young man, I attended the funerals of the victims of our war; both catholic and protestant and I saw and felt the pain that such deaths brought. And you know what, it was exactly the same in both Catholic and Protestant homes. However I digress.The journey you plot for the rise of Sinn Fein is somewhat "fastracked" and ignores certain key milestones; the fact that Thatcher faced down the hunger strike and that so little was achieved for the loss of so many precious lives. The shift by the Adams/McGuinness leadership away from the physical force tradition to a mainstream political dispensation; the Hulme/Adams initiative; I could go on. You're right when you say that the PIRA campaign both opened and focused minds. However the campaign went on 20 years longer than it should have with so many lost lives. The bare bones of what eventually became the Good Friday had been on the table for many years. The problem was that those within the leadership on the Army Council were too wedded to the war, and did not have the political awareness to realise that "their day had come" And too many lives were needlessly lost because of that!!

• FallsRNat | Feb 09, 2012, 04:09 PM EST

  i think your timelimes are veering wildly all over the place, not really surprised sine you take every republican statement as fact, as to your version of Mrs McConville being the true one, I'm still waiting for the documentatry proof, maybe you could point where these are?

• seanomelb | Feb 09, 2012, 03:13 PM EST

  Barney if you remember correctly O'Neill lost his job for his "appeasement" the unionist led by Paisley and the young Trimble were "having none of that" Remember a Protestant state for a Protestant people was the war cry.It's true that some protestants did stand shoulder to shoulder with their Catholic neighbours and the paid the price of castigation by unionists mobs. They left the good fight under intimidation and who could have blamed them.BTW remember sunningdale and how and why it collapsed.If your parents were their they would have seen the violence perpetrated on the marchers.The nationalists pleaded with the Irish government for help,they turnrd their cowardly backs on the north and the nationalists turned to Sinn Fein.If were not for the armed struggle nationalists would not enjoy the equality they enjoy.Facts are facts and I know it leaves a bad taste in some peoples mouths to acknowledge this fact.

• barneyjo | Feb 09, 2012, 07:25 AM EST

  @seanomelb - Precisely. Oh your comments relating to the hi-jacking of civil rights (not peace) marches is no factually correct. It is well documented that there were many from the Unionist community who were supportive of the demand for equality and parity of esteem for Nationalists within the six counties. Indeed the Unionist Primemininster of the day, Terence O'Neill did seek to move to adress the imbalance. At a crucial point however, the Civil Rights movement was indeed hi-jacked by a more militant element. My parents were both active in the movement at the time, and attended many of the early marches, along with Protestant colleagues and neighbours. It was my Dad who told me about the march from Dungannon to Coalisland in Tyrone in 68. At the rally in Coalisland Square(centre) The tri-colour was flown for the first time at such an event. It was after that, that Protestant/Unionist support fell away, and that was the reason given to my parents by many Protestant friends who had been active in NICRA (NI Civil Rights Association) up to that point, but not after the Republican Agenda took centre stage. My Parents, like many other Catholic Nationalists could not support a divisive agenda by definition and instead were active locally in the foundation of a new grass-roots movement that eventually became the SDLP (Social Democratic & Labour Party) with John Hume and others in leadershop

• barneyjo | Feb 09, 2012, 07:19 AM EST

  @seanomelb - Precisely. Oh your comments relating to the hi-jacking of civil rights (not peace) marches is no factually correct. It is well documented that there were many from the Unionist community who were supportive of the demand for equality and parity of esteem for Nationalists within the six counties. Indeed the Unionist Primemininster of the day, Terence O'Neill did seek to move to adress the imbalance. At a crucial point however, the Civil Rights movement was indeed hi-jacked by a more militant element. My parents were both active in the movement at the time, and attended many of the early marches, along with Protestant colleagues and neighbours. It was my Dad who told me about the march from Dungannon to Coalisland in Tyrone in 68. At the rally in Coalisland Square(centre) The tri-colour was flown for the first time at such an event. It was after that, that Protestant/Unionist support fell away, and that was the reason given to my parents by many Protestant friends who had been active in NICRA (NI Civil Rights Association) up to that point, but not after the Republican Agenda took centre stage!!

• seanomelb | Feb 09, 2012, 01:20 AM EST

  The people saw the light barneyjoe and rose up against repression.the right in the US are bighing for war they better be careful for what they wish for.

• seanomelb | Feb 09, 2012, 01:13 AM EST

  Your history is incorrect and we are all a product of our upbrining.The nationalists did not start the trouble and to state that the peace marches were hijacked is a typical pro British distortion of the factsto cover-up the bashings by the murderous B SPECIALS.I noticed you've ran with your tail between your legs when I gave you some factual information on the McConville issue.It's you who cannot move on.It's you who give the British and their terrorist friends a leave pass.

• barneyjo | Feb 08, 2012, 06:36 PM EST

  @FallsRNat: Re your comment about an exodus to Scotland etc... I think the late David Ervine answered that one for his community when he famously said "I am part of the British presence in Ireland, and I'm not going anywhere"!!

• FallsRNat | Feb 08, 2012, 01:07 PM EST

  I guess the real difference between myself & seano apart from the fact that I was actually born & lived in the Falls Rd Belfast, is that i'm a product of society not history, yes my family were steeped in irish freedom tracing back to the IRB, but my dad said choose your own way in the world, i'm not an apologist for anyone, so what that i served in the BA, lots of mates have including 1 whose dad was a provie. Seano youse really do need to pitch your arguments at a more reasoned level, the brits sent in the troops to quell protestant rioting & protect us from loyalist mobs, unfortunately for not John Hume, but lots of protestants as well, the peace march was hijacked by the republican movement who were eager to get the protests on to a more militant footing. The brits then had to find a way of stopping the situation spiralling out of control into a full blown civil war by leaving the troops on the ground, maybe if the Lynch govt in the South hadn't armed PIRA then peace could have still held. All hands are bloody in this war mate, nobody comes out with much credit - going back to your question of why the brits kept the status quo in Ulster, well the protestants were in the majority & in a democracy they get to choose where they want to live. The situation vis a vis now is that somehow by 1 day there being a RC majority of at 3-1, then there maybe a vote for a UI, but any concept of a free state as we know it has fininshed, what will most likely happen is that there would be an exodus of at 50% people out of the north to either an independent Scotland (as that is where 90% of the protestant forebears were born) or into the UK, a very pyrric victory indeed for the UIslanders.

• barneyjo | Feb 08, 2012, 06:15 AM EST

  @seanomelb - It was roundabout this time (maybe a little earlier that Bob Dylan told us in song "The times they are a changing" The point being that in many Nations across the world at that time, the established order was being challenged like never before and caught the ruling elites off guard. Those elites in turn sought to defeat these forces for change as the demand for change was something those elites could not understand and were not prepared to tolerate. Northern Ireland was, and is only one small corner of the world where war makes decent people do indecent things. We had Bloody Sunday thats true. Britain was not the only country in the dock for mass murder or massacres. Consider the many criminal acts perpatrated by US Forces in Vietnam; the My Lai Massacare 1968; upwards of 500 women and children murdered, many raped. Or Srebrenica 1995; 8000 men and boys murdered.Of course the British sought to support the Unionist Monolith in NI; as it was an inherent part of the then status quo, what else would you reasonably expect??

• barneyjo | Feb 08, 2012, 06:14 AM EST

  @seanomelb - It was roundabout this time (maybe a little earlier that Bob Dylan told us in song "The times they are a changing" The point being that in many Nations across the world at that time, the established order was being challenged like never before and caught the ruling elites off guard. Those elites in turn sought to defeat these forces for change as the demand for change was something those elites could not understand and were not prepared to tolerate. Northern Ireland was, and is only one small corner of the world where war makes decent people do indecent things. We had Sunday thats true. Britain was not the only country in the dock for mass murder or massacres. Consider the many criminal acts perpatrated by US Forces in Vietnam; the My Lai Massacare 1968; upwards of 500 women and children murdered, many raped. Or Srebrenica 1995; 8000 men and boys murdered.Of course the British sought to support the Unionist Monolith in NI; as it was an inherent part of the then status quo, what else would you reasonably expect??

• barneyjo | Feb 08, 2012, 06:14 AM EST

  @seanomelb - I was roundabout this time (maybe a little earlier that Bob Dylan told us in song "The times they are a changing" The point being that in many Nations across the world at that time, the established order was being challenged like never before and caught the ruling elites off guard. Those elites in turn sought to defeat these forces for change as the demand for change was something those elites could not understand and were not prepared to tolerate. Northern Ireland was, and is only one small corner of the world where war makes decent people do indecent things. We had Sunday thats true. Britain was not the only country in the dock for mass murder or massacres. Consider the many criminal acts perpatrated by US Forces in Vietnam; the My Lai Massacare 1968; upwards of 500 women and children murdered, many raped. Or Srebrenica 1995; 8000 men and boys murdered.Of course the British sought to support the Unionist Monolith in NI; as it was an inherent part of the then status quo, what else would you reasonably expect??

• seanomelb | Feb 08, 2012, 12:04 AM EST

  Barneyjoe you give more examples,I'm not sure what your point is as I agree.I presume you then agree that Britain was part of the subjugation of northern Nationalists.

• barneyjo | Feb 07, 2012, 06:15 PM EST

  @seanomelb ; Northern Ireland was not unique in the late 60s in terms of a State and its agents seeking to quell forces for change. Look at the Student Riots in Paris; the anti (Vietnam) War demonstrations in cities across the world. Race riots in the United States (Watts? etc) All involved the State seeking to subjugate citizens who were pressing for change.And before you say it, I am no Brit Apologist, I am stating historical fact of which you would be as aware of as I!!

• seanomelb | Feb 07, 2012, 05:47 PM EST

  falls I merely gave another point of view which you conveniently ignore.I never justified her death.I gave you info which you choose to ignore and then you take another tangent looking fot the high moral ground.As I remember it Hume and his people tried the peace marches and were met with violence as did King and he paid with his life.It's a pity your Brit mates did'nt have the forsight to take the peaceful road and recognise the human rights abuses in N.E. Ireland and all the violence could have been avoided.They had the power and they decided to join the racist bigoted unionist.They made the bed that we had to lie in it.

• FallsRNat | Feb 07, 2012, 03:52 PM EST

  In 1995 her daughter Mrs McKendry was shunned by Republicans in Poleglass & the family car was attacked & destroyed so they moved, the republicans forced Mrs McConville's family out of West Belfast, back in 1969 when she was forced out of a loyalist area in 1969, times don't change, the real difference between me & seano is that i don't any murders by either side in the Troubles, they were all unjustified killings, if instead of a Gerry Adams, we had a Martin Luther King, we would probably all be living in a peaceful state by now, enjoying both a fulcome equal relationship with both the UK & SI, now all we have to look forward to is years of bitterness & hate, we're more divided then ever amongst ourselves, great plaudits were rightly given to Peter Robinson for attending a GAA match, however, SF despite all of the changes couldnt bring themselves to acknowledge the visit of HM Queen to the South & abstained in the Stormont debate, how petty this was, well what should we expect from 'ourselves alone'

• rbrochard | Feb 07, 2012, 10:35 AM EST

  must be

• DanOLoingsigh | Feb 07, 2012, 04:53 AM EST

  looooooks liiiiiiiike a sofffffffffffftware issssssssssssssue??

• barneyjo | Feb 06, 2012, 08:38 PM EST

  Something weird here

• barneyjo | Feb 06, 2012, 08:37 PM EST

  Lads; spy or no spy, Jean McConville was a mother and a woman. Her death at the hands of a person or persons from the community of west belfast is nothing more than a shameful stain on the long struggle by that community for the rights and privilidges to which they were entitled but for so long denied. If that community were satisfied that Jean McConville was indeed a spy then they could have outed her by many other means short of what they did to her. I am appalled by the attempts of certain members of that community who for their own interests, seek to justify the killing of Jean McConville by drip-feeding innuendo and half truths to justify a great wrong. Her children, in particular, Helen McKendry are by definition an "inconvenient truth" for those narrow self interest groups and who are content to hold them to account in the eyes of the world, and the community of West Belfast. Just like the family of Robert McCartney, "They havent gone away you know"!!

• DanOLoingsigh | Feb 06, 2012, 07:56 PM EST

  Seano – you stated in a post on 30 Jan, at 10:47 that this lady was a spy…neither you or I know this to be a fact…the difference is that you have to believe it, to justify her murder…on ‘porkies’, I told you that I was a combat engineer, which is true, and I held military rank…so no ‘porkie’ there. From facts you have previously disclosed, you had a few years in a ‘non combat’ role, so your knowledge is somewhat limited…demonstrated by your comments on the Gustav, where again you jumped to the wrong conclusion…it would be tedious to recount the number of times you have done so, but I’ll be there to check your ‘facts’, not butting out, but butting in!!

• seanomelb | Feb 06, 2012, 05:57 PM EST

  Dan I taught you a lesson on our last outing and proved you to be a bullsh-t artist .Remember the Gustav fiasco.The only thing Falls and I have in common we were both in the military.You told a little porky claiming you were in the the army so butt out.

• seanomelb | Feb 06, 2012, 05:49 PM EST

  I did not justify the killing of McConville as previous posts will prove.You fail to analyse the written word or bend the truth to suit yorself.Firsly McConville was a catholic(she changed her religion) thee McConvilles were chased from their home by unionist terrorists and ended up in Divis street.Secondly!! an official police investegation claiming she was killed for cradling a soldier was debunked.Thirdly Michael Mclaughlin(SF) claimed she was passing on info to the British.Remember I started this discusion to give both sides of the argument,not to pass judgement.Your penchant to give a "British" side of the argument means you are not an honest broker in this debate.

• FallsRNat | Feb 06, 2012, 03:09 PM EST

  seanomelb - i dont ever remember using my familiy's credentials to justify anything i say &do, however, you made a statement justifying an innocent person's murder because she was an 'alledged' spy, now unlike youse, i have spoken to one time PIRA members who say that she was nothing of the sort, now i'll ask once again, where is your proof that Mrs McConville was a spy.

• DanOLoingsigh | Feb 05, 2012, 07:35 PM EST

  Seano - you claimed she was a spy...but no proof offered...I claim that you were a Brit spy...I can't prove it...but as that doesn't seem to matter to you...why should it matter to me?

• seanomelb | Feb 05, 2012, 05:01 PM EST

  I do not accept your premise as the truth,Therefore I have nothing to prove.The fact that you were a British tommy is a truism not a snide remark.If you feel hurt by the truth then you should search your conscience and leave the messenger alone.You try and justify your credentials by stating your had IRA family members. I have had family members jailed for their political beliefs,but I do not use them as a crutch to validate my point of view enough said.

• FallsRNat | Feb 05, 2012, 03:03 PM EST

  seanomelb - your snide remarks aside, youse still haven't provided 1 shred of evidence to back up your claims about Mrs McConville, so let's have the proof, we're all waiting, so what if my family were IRB/SF/IRA that's ancient history now, who is an independent arbiter in your eyes, Gerry Adams, uh no, even he now denies claiming she was a british spy, youse can throw mud about, but youse have to back up your claims with hard evidence.

• seanomelb | Feb 04, 2012, 05:28 PM EST

  I did not state his book was a pack of lies,I questioned his reason for the killing of McConville.You can push your pro British barrow as much as you like.You fail to tell the audience that you are an exBrit soldier,so much for your great republican family,you must have been the black sheep. You are certainly not an independent arbiter of the truth in this matter.

• FallsRNat | Feb 03, 2012, 04:53 PM EST

  SeamusMartin - No, what we have here is me from an Old Republican family trying to teach a few basic truths to a PIRA denier in seanomelbourne, he just cannot accept the truth, he thinks that McKitterick's Lost Lives is 1 pack of lies, it is just a book detailing all of the people who lost their lives in the Troubles, protestant/catholic, nationalist/republican, loyalist/unionist, he can't back his arguments up because in the case of Mrs McConville there is no historical truth in that she was a British informer, he just falls back on the pathetic PIRA line of everybody is a liar if they dont believe our side of the story, thankfully these people are in a minority

• SeamusMartin | Feb 02, 2012, 11:53 PM EST

  On and on it goes, the sheer madness of revenge continues. Black/White, North/South, Orange/Green, Hatfields/McCoys -- why not just blow the freakin' island up. Kill all the living entities. Then scorch the earth and cover it with salt! Then all you blood suckers will be happy. Then move on to do Lucifer's work somewhere else!!!!

• seanomelb | Feb 02, 2012, 06:22 PM EST

  Are you for real McKittrick he could'nt lie straight in bed.I"m man enough to see behind your blinkered views.

• FallsRNat | Feb 02, 2012, 03:11 PM EST

  seanomelbourne - that's exactly what they did, you are living in a fantasy world, PIRA murdered protestants because they were a sectarian organisation, the UVF/UFF murdered catholics for the same reason, Mrs McConville was killed because she comforted a dying soldier, the enemy as far as PIRA was concerned, wake up, you really need to start reading your history books, get McKitterick's book Lost Lives, victim 699 Mrs McConville, her daughter met with Adams & PIRA, they never said she was killed because she was suspected of being an informer, given that they would try to make mileage out of these sorts of claims because their sysmpathisers in your case would try to claim some perverse justice as such is very revealing, they don't know the reason other than the reason that I & many others have stated, for once be man enough to apologise to the family for making these totally unfounded claims, it really does beggar belief

• DanOLoingsigh | Feb 02, 2012, 06:04 AM EST

  Most right-thinking people thought at the time it was preposterous for self-appointed, anti-democratic zealots to order an execution FOR ANY REASON...The same zealots, btw, who rightly raged against 'shoot to kill' when they found themselves on the receiving end of such a policy...

• seanomelb | Feb 01, 2012, 06:13 PM EST

  TO say that the PIRA council would put an execution order on her for comforting a dying man is preposterous.

• FallsRNat | Feb 01, 2012, 04:22 PM EST

  right seanomelbourne, give us dates, times & who said she was an informer, i bet it is just the normal tired provisionals, the Pat Finucane centre didn't even bother to give this story the time of day, they didn't lend any credance to it. I have scoured the Irish newspapers, spoken to journalists North, South of the border, no-one thinks she was an informer, where is your info, let's see it.

• IrelandNorth | Feb 01, 2012, 07:49 AM EST

  The essential point is that academic researchers and subject (in the sociological sense of the term) were not PSNI personnel. Personally, I suspect MI6/CIA involvement. To any sentient being, her loss of life was a tragedy. If she was a British agent, will British military authorities be subpaeoned. or will they be allowed appear behind frosted glass screens at subsequent trials in Derry or Dublin.

• seanomelb | Jan 31, 2012, 05:36 PM EST

  Read my post I never said she deserved to be lilled and your comfort story is not entirely correct she was given a radio by her handler which was used to pass on information on nationalists activities in the flats. I was not aware that she was a protestant,maybe that's another piece in the puzzle of why she spied.Live by the sword..... Her death is tragic as were the murders committed by the British.As I said before were any nationalist killed or incarcerated on information she garnered for the British

• FallsRNat | Jan 31, 2012, 01:25 PM EST

  seanomelbourne - she was not an informer, she comforted a dying soldier & for that was tortured & murdered by PIRA. Even by your standards it is a pretty pathetic excuse, nobody deserves to be killed, I know PIRA members who are thoroughly ashamed by this incident, all of them say that she was killed for the soldier incident, the fact she was a protestant also helped.

• DanOLoingsigh | Jan 31, 2012, 07:56 AM EST

  She would have been alive if she had not been executed by self-appointed, anti-democratic zealots...only fair to place the responsibility where it lies...

• seanomelbourne | Jan 30, 2012, 10:47 PM EST

  One wonders if McConville had not spied for the would she still be alive today enjoying her children and grand children. How many nationalists were killed or incarcerated(if any) by information given by Mrs McConville to hjer British handlers.It seems only fair that both sides of the story are told.

• SeamusMor | Jan 30, 2012, 09:58 PM EST

  There is nothing to be gained, nor lost, by writing letters about this case; no matter to whom, and no matter from whom. The wheels of Justice are slowly and inevitably rolling towards the decision on whether or not BC must release the subpoenaed tapes. It is matter of law, not politics. The judge will not consider the ramifications of the release of the material; his focus will be solely upon whether the turn over order was lawfully requested. One should, I surmise, also assume that the content of the files being demanded are already known to prosecutors, who require them for submission to the court as evidence of murder and conspiracy, not as part of a fishing expedition undertaken for partisan political advantage. The motives of the informer(s) may include removing Gerry Adams from position and power, but for the police and prosecutors, it is a simple matter of doing one's duty in the wake of the conspiracy to brutally kidnap, murder, and dispose of Mrs. McConville.

• FallsRNat | Jan 30, 2012, 04:06 PM EST

  Justice for McConville or no justice at all, this murder is a stain on the Nationalist community & if those tapes shine a light on who ordered/carried out the murder, then the sooner they see the light of day the better, there will no peace until justice for the innocent is provided on both sides of this sordid despicable war. I have lost 3 family members & 10 good friends murdered by both sides in the Troubles, I have had family members in the IRA killed in the years from 1920-1945, i am thoroughly sick to death of people making excuses for the terrorists on both sides, they were let out early from prison, feted on the world political stage, now it is time for them to pucker up & own up to their own crimes.

• Kilsally | Jan 30, 2012, 01:58 PM EST

  you obviously don`t read the media maryosullivan as there is a huge list of victims that get reported in the media from both sides - thats why we have 4 victims commissioners appointed by the NI government.

• audreybolton | Jan 30, 2012, 12:13 PM EST

  It's time the truth was told. The McConville family has suffered enough! Their whole lives have been ruined by this tragedy and they are still living with the consequences. They recognised some the people who took their mother away. Surely the release of the tapes to the Irish and British authorities would clear up the family's suffering. Obviously some people are afraid they will be caught! I doubt the peace process will suffer as the people of Northern Ireland do not want to go back to that reign of terror.

• mamaginnty | Jan 30, 2012, 11:19 AM EST

  Burn them, even though Loyalist killers may be named on the tapes too. The British have no right to these tapes.

• cillowen | Jan 30, 2012, 10:48 AM EST

  was the abduction connected with being another irish rat - there being so many - how does the apartheidness otherwise end without resorting to such desperate craziness.

• Murph46 | Jan 30, 2012, 10:32 AM EST

  Enough is enough-destroy the tapes ,an American President did!

• maryosullivan | Jan 30, 2012, 10:18 AM EST

  " IRA VICTIMS DAUGHTER CALL FOR PUBLIC RELEASE....." How many children of victims of Brit atrocities have been access to the media to plead their case for justice?