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Presidential candidate Martin McGuinness claims he left the IRA in 1974

Sinn Fein election hopeful ready for any questions on his IRA past

CATHAL DERVAN,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Tuesday, September 20, 2011, 7:41 AM

Updated Tuesday, September 20, 2011, 12:17 PM

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Martin McGuinness

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Presidential election candidate Martin McGuinness has revealed that he left the IRA in 1974 – and confirmed he had said this under oath and without fear of prosecution to the Saville Inquiry into the Bloody Sunday massacre.

The Sinn Fein candidate to replace Mary McAleese in next month’s poll has been hounded about his IRA past since he was confirmed as a candidate on Sunday.

McGuinness hit the campaign trail running at the National Ploughing Championships in Athy on Tuesday morning but before he temporarily vacated his office as the North’s Deputy First Minister, he answered a number of questions relating to his past.

Derry born McGuinness even admitted to the Irish Times that he is annoyed by the ‘media fixation’ on his IRA history and the belief that he belonged to the organization after 1974.

Asked by the Irish Times if he would be open to prosecution if he admitted to being in the IRA beyond 1974 – after telling the Saville Inquiry that he left then – McGuinness re-iterated his earlier statements.
“If that was true it would leave me open to prosecution but it isn’t true,” he told the Irish Times.

Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster, McGuinness denied any involvement in the 1990 death in Derry of Pasty Gillespie and five British soldiers in a so-called ‘human bomb’ attack.

“I had absolutely no involvement whatsoever in that. I wasn’t a member of the IRA when that happened. In fact I have never, ever been arrested or questioned about that incident by the RUC,” insisted McGuiness.

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The Presidential hopeful also claimed to the Irish Times that it was wrong to assume he could persuade the IRA to lay down its arms during the peace process because he was a member of the IRA.

“People make a false assumption when they assume that,” added McGuinness. “Over the course of the last 30 years my work has been political; it has been very political in terms of trying to build this political party.

“People who voted me in have done so because they accept my bona fides about being absolutely true and earnest in the search for peace, and that my efforts have fundamentally changed their lives and the lives of our entire community for the better.”

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FallsRNat | Sep 21, 2011, 05:01 PM EDT

stats for NI troubles -responsibilty for deaths PIRA - 1771, OIRA - 54, INLA - 150, RIRA - 29, OTH - 135 UFF - 408, UVF - 547, LVF - 12, RHF - 3, OTH - 80 ARMY - 301, RUC - 52, UDR - 8, OTH - 86 TOTAL - 3636 Roll on McGuiness as POI, it will cause greater division than ever

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FallsRNat | Sep 21, 2011, 08:47 AM EDT

Rebelforce, hogwash you say! Well, perhaps, but let's take a closer look. Sinn Fein did well in the North mostly because of the ugly, blatant, in-your-face anti-Catholic discrimination and outright hatred Catholics faced day in, day out. Still, they only became the largest nationalist party in 2001 - three years after the Good Friday Agreement which finally brought peace, more or less. Up to that point the largest nationalist party was the SDLP, headed by John Hume, who, together with David Trimble of the UUP, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998 for their achievement. Messrs. Adams and McGuinness were not in the running for this award, and pardon me, for very good reason. Sinn Fein only eclipsed the SDLP when it renounced violence and agreed to work within the political system - and the IRA was well into decommissioning its vast weapons arsenal. Sinn Fein was, in a sense, rewarded for good behavior and also, paradoxically - and to your point, because Sinn Fein/IRA had represented a violent alternative to the SDLP's more peaceful approach. In the South, where circumstances were radically different, Sinn Fein's popular support was always marginal. It is also worth noting that by 1996 the IRA's campaign in the North was effectively defeated. If you don't like this term you may be able to accept this one: Sinn Fein/IRA had finally concluded that they could not win. Sickened and alienated by the endless bloodshed, bombings and murders, their Catholic base was evaporating. Then along came the splinter factions like the RIRA, which, in the name of freedom, murdered 29 innocent people in the infamous Omagh bombing of August 1998 - to protest its unhappinness with the Good Friday Agreement. For far too long we Irish have had this fatal attraction for the gunman in Irish life and in Irish politics. It's time we grew up and got over it.

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Rebelforce | Sep 20, 2011, 06:26 PM EDT

Tom, no offense but I think you talk a lot of hogwash. If Sinn Fein/IRA were so terrible to "their own people", how do you explain that they are by far the largest Nationalist party in northern Ireland? Why do so many people in the six counties consistently vote for them? Probably has something to do with the fact that the IRA gave the British a good ass kicking for 25 years and Nationalists understand that if it wasn't for the IRA there never would have been a Good Friday Agreement.

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Rebelforce | Sep 20, 2011, 05:09 PM EDT

GeorgeDillon, nice try George but no cigar - although I do agree with you in part. NATO does not target civilians. It targets military installations and equipment and military formations. As to the legitimacy or wisdom of this air war, that is questionable. Gadhafi is indeed a tyrant but he is Libya's tyrant - and we have no good idea of what comprises the opposition. Sometimes it is better to abide by the devil you know rather than the devil you don't.

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Rebelforce | Sep 20, 2011, 05:01 PM EDT

sirpeter, my dear boy, first things first. I am going to complete your title because you are an Anglophile, albeit a confused one - as a child might, at times, hate a parent. Now hear this, I, TomSwinford, an alledged West Briton, do hereby proclaim sirpeter to be known henceforth as Sir Peter the Little, Royal Overseer of Cesspool & Bilgewater and all other smelly swamps in the land. [Happily, as you already sit in the well of your new domain you will not have to relocate.] On a more serious note, I enjoy nothing more than a good, scholarly debate with a worthy opponent. You are not such an opponent. Saddled with an 8th grade intellect, embracing an Irish history narrative that is, at best, heavy on myth and, at worst, mostly a lie - but tailor-made for an 8th grade intellect, and seeking expression with sub-par writing skills, you are simply not up to the task of serious and rational debate. So, go enjoy your extended title and then take a snooze in your ooze, as one might say.

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Rebelforce | Sep 20, 2011, 04:42 PM EDT

Rebelforce, you make a fair point in your question of terrorist or freedom fighter. Yet, Sinn Fein/IRA stands apart from your cited examples. SinnFein/IRA victims were to a large extent their own people and largely Catholic. And what kind of freedom would these "freedom fighters" have given us if they had won the civil war in 1922/23? With threats, intimidation and violence as needed, they had "won" the general election of 1918, decimating Redmond's Irish Parliamentary Party. Twice in 1922 they repudiated the will of the Irish people, first in the Dail and later in the general election when the electorate overwhelmingly voted for peace. And down through the decades since Sinn Fein/IRA have repeatedly shown contempt for democracy and contempt for the aspirations of the Irish, whose support they never had in any real measure. Their ideology and their methods have always had much more in common with Bolshevism. What kind of government would these ideological lunatics, thugs and criminals have given us had they won? We are such bloody fools.

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aloistmartin | Sep 20, 2011, 04:28 PM EDT

Yet another Pathetic excuse to Drink and Brawl in Public ... Get Serious Ireland !

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GeorgeDillon | Sep 20, 2011, 03:26 PM EDT

I agree with TomSwinford in condemning bombings. Bombs were wrong in the 1970s, just as they are wrong in 2011. I am sure he agrees with me in rejecting any distinction such as "Big Bombs Good, Small Bombs Bad". So I'm sure Tomswinford and others who are expressing strong opposition to bombing will join with me in condemning the mass bombing of Libya that has been carried out by France and Britain for some six months now. At least McGuinness' buddies stopped their bombing--in contrast NATO even today continues its bombing frenzy.

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DanOLoingsigh | Sep 20, 2011, 03:18 PM EDT

Getting SF off its own hook required democrats to go along with a carefully constructed act of collective amnesia. The price of peace has been hypocrisy: Keeping quiet when SF demanded accountability for Bloody Sunday, but not for Kingsmills. Biting tongues when they claimed moral purity, contrasted against the deviousness of other (democratically elected) parties. McGuinness’s ‘comrades’ killed 644 civilians but only 28 loyalist paramilitaries. It killed children, including Jonathan Ball, Tim Parry and Paul Maxwell. It practised kidnapping and torture. It held kangaroo courts and imposed arbitrary death sentences. These are war crimes for which there is no statute of limitations. McGuinness was in a position of authority on the AC so he was legally and morally responsible. He continued to portray himself and his murderous accomplices, not as perpetrators, but as victims of the conflict. McGuinness was allowed to escape the consequences of the deeds he organised and lauded, and now he seeks the presidency. This is a high-risk move, but not for SF. The Irish people will have to decide if it can have a man with this record representing the country as Head of State; will collective amnesia wear off in time?

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FallsRNat | Sep 20, 2011, 12:48 PM EDT

1 agree, Ken Mcguiness is the ideal candidate to be president of Ireland, during his time as MP he was liked by both the prods & RCs, no mean achievement during the troubles.

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sirpeter | Sep 20, 2011, 12:45 PM EDT

Yeah Tommy. Éamon de Valera,Michael Collins,Seán Lemass and Martin McGuinness and many more in Irish politics.The question you should be asking yourself is why they had to take up the gun in the first place!!.Don't try and give the impression you are been reasonable by saying you admire McGuinness for putting down his gun.You don't admire him and that's very clear!!You think NI had a democratic process!!Not many would agree with you on that.A democratic process that always lead to a mild form of a tyrannical government against it's OWN people.Hitler was democratically elected too.To remove oppression is ALWAYS messy against a tyranny who is well armed.Easily know you never had British soldiers stop you are the side of the street and slap you around while you just went about your business.You're the one deluded Tommy.You swallowed everything you were told growing up didn't ya!!

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Rebelforce | Sep 20, 2011, 11:37 AM EDT

Were the Jews who fought the British to create the modern day state of Israel "terrorists" or "freedom fighters"? Were the Free French resistance who fought the German occupation of France "terrorists" or "freedom fighters"? Were the American patriots who tarred and feathered or hanged British loyalists during the Revolutionary War "terrorists" or "freedom fighters"? Was Martin McGuiness a "terrorist" or a "freedom fighter" for resisting a corrupt, bigoted and unjust Protestant Parliament for a Protestant People in his country? I guess it all depends on whose ox is being gored doesn't it?

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biggles008 | Sep 20, 2011, 11:36 AM EDT

McGuinness done more for the country as a whole than any other candadate. I am not,and was never a Sinn Fein person.

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biggles008 | Sep 20, 2011, 10:26 AM EDT

I cannot imagine how any reasonable person can take McGuinness at his word that he left the IRA in 1974 - when he was second in command of this rapidly ascending terrorist organization. That we should believe him because he took an oath swearing that he left the IRA is beyond laughable. That even now he has only reluctantly (when pressed)condemned the cold blooded murder of an Irish garda by his former comrades-in-arms, bank-robbing IRA thugs in the process of establishing comfortable retirements. Only recently Sinn Fein denounced the queen's visit and boycotted it. Now Martin says that he would welcome her with open arms. What B.S.! I have said earlier in these pages that I admire McGuinness for having put down the gun and embraced the democratic process - as Dev did in 1927. But Sinn Fein has much blood on its hands, a great deal of it innocent blood and most of it Irish blood. And let's not delude ourselves, as we are wont to do, that this was blood shed in heroic battle against a foreign occupier. It was shed in the meanest and most cowardly of ways, kidnappings, murders, knee-cappings and torture, house-burnings, and of course the favorite, endless bombings of innocent people going about their business. In short, these fine lads followed the terrorist rulebook to the letter. And now one of their most senior officers and principal architects of mayhem wants to be the "people's president." God Help Us!

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Rebelforce | Sep 20, 2011, 09:31 AM EDT

Martin McGuiness should be honored for the courageous role he played with the IRA resistance to British mis-rule in Ireland with pride. Did Charles DeGaulle ever have to explain to the people of France why he fought with the Free French "terrorists" during World War II?

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