It took 30 years for the IRA, but its better to be later rather than never

national | rights, freedoms and repression | news report Saturday June 25, 2005 18:20 by liam o'connor

Although plans for a South African style Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Northern Ireland have not yet come to fruition, some of the tangled threads of the troubles are at last being straightened out.

A case in point is the IRA's admission that it was one of its snipers who killed schoolgirl Kathleen Feeney in Londonderry in 1973. More than 30 years after the incident, the IRA has finally decided to come clean.

Whether it was a pang of conscience, a contribution to greater understanding or part of the republican movement's wider political strategy remains to be seen. But in any event, one bereaved family has the satisfaction of at last securing a candid account of how their little girl died.

The most sickening element of this sorry episode, though, is that the IRA cynically sought to cover up for its original blunder by murdering a soldier in alleged "retaliation" for the death of the girl. Even given the cataclysmic events of the early 1970s, it is difficult to think of an act of greater hypocrisy.

The obvious question raised by this disclosure is how many more such guilty secrets the IRA is holding close to its chest. The most glaring example of all is the fate of The Disappeared, where the trail has gone cold in so many cases.

Someone, somewhere must know more about the precise locations of the bodies of those who were so brutally eliminated by the IRA which cruelly gave no word of explanation, leaving the victims' loved ones to wait and wonder.

Even if the IRA's Derry statement is years too late, any sign of greater openness by this shadowy organisation is welcome. Nothing can bring back the victims, but more information on other murders - and more "unreserved apologies" - would help countless families in their quest for closure.

With the IRA continuing to debate Gerry Adams's call for it to follow an exclusively political path, there will inevitably be suspicions about what agenda republicans are following. Are they seeking to tie up some loose ends before announcing a seismic shift in strategy?

Whatever is going on, the IRA should not underestimate the challenge it faces in gaining any degree of trust in the wider community, unionist and nationalist. Regrettably, too many promises have been broken along the way.

Those who backed the peace process feel sorely let down by the IRA. It will take more than a few belated confessions to fully redeem republicanism.