MEPs back legal aid for McCartney family

By David Cronin

Date: 12/05/05

MEPs have called for a little-known provision in the EU's budget to be invoked to help the family of murdered Belfast man Robert McCartney bring his killers to justice.

In an unprecedented move, 555 deputies supported a resolution on Tuesday (10 May), calling for the Union's finances to fund a civil action against the suspected murderers if a police investigation stalls through lack of evidence. The money would be drawn down from a €1 million section in the budget, devoted to aiding the victims of terrorism.

McCartney was stabbed to death following a row in a pub on 30 January. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) has admitted some of its members were involved in the crime and offered to shoot those responsible - something which the McCartney family have rejected.

The two MEPs representing Sinn Féin, the political wing of the IRA, abstained from the vote. During a debate on Monday, Jim Allister, the MEP for Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party, accused a named Sinn Féin treasurer of involvement in the murder.

Dublin deputy Mary Lou McDonald, national chairwoman of Sinn Féin, said the crime was "not a politically inspired act; it was murder plain and simple".

Two of McCartney's sisters, Paula and Catherine, were in Strasbourg for the vote. Paula McCartney said that while the murder itself was not politically motivated, a subsequent cover-up was. She dismissed claims by Sinn Féin that it supports the family's quest for justice as "not sincere and not genuine". Although key suspects in the case have handed themselves to the police voluntarily, she said that they had all exercised their right to silence during interrogation.

Josep Borrell, the European Parliament president, voiced optimism that funds can be released to back a civil action. He pledged to consult with José Manuel Barroso and Jean-Claude Juncker, the presidents of the European Commission and Council, to make this a reality.

In an unprecedented move, 555 MEPs supported a European Parliament resolution on 10 May 2005, calling for the European Union's finances to fund a civil action against the suspected murderers of Belfast man Robert McCartney if a police investigation was to stall through lack of evidence. The money would be drawn down from a €1 million section in the EU's budget, devoted to aiding the victims of terrorism. McCartney had been stabbed to death following a row in a pub on 30 January and the Irish Republican Army (IRA) subsequently admitted some of its members were involved in the crime.