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SOME BAD IRISH LUCK FOR ST. PATRICK'S DAY

By Mike Hudson

While the British have been trying to bring down the Irish Republican Army at least since the Easter Rebellion of 1916, a Jan. 30 incident in downtown Belfast may have provided the straw that has broken the camel's back.

Robert McCartney was drinking with Brendan Devine and two other friends at a popular Market Street pub called Magennis's when an altercation broke out, allegedly over disrespect shown to a woman at the bar.

One thing led to another, and McCartney, Devine and their friends, along with five antagonists, spilled out onto the street.

Unfortunately for McCartney, two of those antagonists happened to be members of the Provisional IRA, hard men well-schooled in close-quarters combat and the use of deadly force.

As the fight escalated, one of them ran back into Magennis's and got a knife from the kitchen. He handed it to one of his friends, who then used it to stab McCartney and Devine. McCartney died of his wounds.

The IRA men went back into the bar, stole the video from the surveillance camera, and fled the scene. The tape, along with the knife and the clothes the men were wearing, reportedly were destroyed.

But the ancient Irish code of silence has undergone a significant deterioration in recent years, as outrages by the IRA and splinter groups such as the Irish National Liberation Army have sickened even the staunchest supporters of the Republican cause. There were 70 people in Magennis's that night, and the identities of those involved, while they haven't been made public, quickly became known.

What began as a dim, drunken escapade quickly turned into a matter of national import for the Irish. Sinn Fein, the nationalist political party most closely identified with the IRA, promptly sought to distance itself from the McCartney affair.

Sinn Fein leader and former IRA commander Gerry Adams met with the family of the murdered man, and called upon the killers to turn themselves in.

Adams immediately suspended seven party members the family believed were either implicated or witnesses to the attack.

"It wasn't an IRA attack, it wasn't a Republican plan," he said. "It was stupidity fueled by alcohol."

Self-preservation and selfishness would not prevail in the case, he said, and for the good of Ireland and the Republican cause, those involved should turn themselves in.

"All of the involved in this horrific incident must make themselves fully accountable for their actions," he said. "Nothing short of this is acceptable."

Public support for Adams, Sinn Fein and the IRA in particular plummeted in the wake of the outrage. A poll last week in the Belfast Telegraph showed 60 percent of those identifying themselves as nationalists and almost half of Sinn Fein members want the IRA to disband immediately.

Things took a bizarre turn when IRA officials met with the McCartney family and offered to kill those responsible for the murder.

"The IRA representatives detailed the outcome of the internal disciplinary proceedings thus far and stated in clear terms that the IRA was prepared to shoot the people directly involved in the killing of Robert McCartney," stated an IRA communique dated Feb. 25.

Wisely, McCartney's fiancee and sisters turned down the offer.

Until fairly recently, the Irish didn't allow women in their pubs. The nicer places had separate rooms where ladies could drink if they wished, but the bar itself was the domain of men.

This sensible but politically incorrect policy prevented all manner of shenanigans. It's been proven time and again that men tend to act more stupidly when they're drinking and around women than they do when they're drinking and around other men.

Who knows? Perhaps, had the Irish maintained their quaint custom rather than caving in to modernity, Robert McCartney might be among the living, the reputations of Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein might be intact and the IRA could go about the business of wrenching the country away from the throes of British imperialism.

Just something to think about this St. Patrick's Day, as you sit down to your corned beef and Guinness, with maybe a dram of Bushmill's on the side.

Do us all a favor, though, and don't go disrespecting any women.

Niagara Falls Reporter www.niagarafallsreporter.com March 15 2005