Grieving sisters vow to destroy 'romantic' IRA image

Key points

• Sisters of murdered Robert McCartney in US as guest in White House

• Martin McGuiness issues sisters a 'warning' to stay out of politics

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• Recent highlighting of illegal activities puts pressure on Sinn Fein

Key quote

"We are highlighting that this started off as intimidation and has now taken a sinister twist into an area of secrecy. There is an implication that someone is pulling our strings but the only person pulling our strings is Robert." - CATHERINE MCCARTNEY

Story in full THE sisters of the IRA murder victim Robert McCartney flew to the United States last night amid international publicity, vowing to dispel any "romantic ideas" held about the Northern Ireland troubles.

The family also accused the IRA of a cover-up over the killing, and will present a dossier of evidence to George Bush, the US president.

As the sisters arrived at Baltimore Airport, Catherine McCartney said: "We want the people in America to know any romantic vision they have of the struggle should be dispelled.

"The struggle in terms of what it was ten years ago is now over - we are now dealing with criminal gangs who use the cloak of romanticism around the IRA to murder people on the streets and walk away from it."

The five women, along with Mr McCartney’s fiance, Bridgeen Hagans, are to take part in the annual St Patrick’s Day celebrations and their appearance will pile further pressure on Sinn Fein.

During their visit, they will be guests of honour at the White House, where they will present Mr Bush with evidence regarding Mr McCartney’s death outside a pub in Belfast on 30 January.

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The high-profile visit is part of the family’s attempts to bring the killers of the 33-year-old father of two to justice.

Two Sinn Fein election candidates and a former party councillor have come forward to say they were in Magennis’s bar on the night Mr McCartney was killed, but claim that they did not witness the attack.

Speaking before leaving Dublin yesterday, Paula McCartney said the situation "stinks of a cover-up". Her comments came a day after Martin McGuinness, Sinn Fein’s chief negotiator, warned the McCartneys to be "very careful" and to stay out of politics, after one of the sisters threatened to challenge the party at the ballot box.

Last night, Catherine McCartney said their intention was to make influential congressmen and women aware that people could be murdered and as long as they did not belong to an organisation, no one was accountable.

"We are highlighting that this started off as intimidation and has now taken a sinister twist into an area of secrecy," she said. "There is an implication that someone is pulling our strings but the only person pulling our strings is Robert."

Asked about the warning issued to the family by Mr McGuinness to stay out of party politics, she said they would not be used as a political football.

The sisters said the only way their trip to the US would be made worthwhile would be if those responsible for the brutal murder of Mr McCartney were arrested during their trip.

Although the IRA has expelled three volunteers and Sinn Fein has suspended seven members, no-one has been charged over the killing.

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Mr McGuinness insisted yesterday he was behind the McCartneys in their quest for justice - and challenged Northern Ireland’s top police officer to explain why an IRA suspect in the case had not been arrested.

He claimed the man, one of three expelled from the Provisionals over the killing, was turned away by investigating detectives.

Mr McGuinness said: "Their explanation that they are making arrangements to interview the suspect is astonishing. They have been raiding homes in Belfast looking for this man, yet when he offers himself for interview they turn him away. Such a course of action is unprecedented."

A key witness - believed to be Brendan Devine, whose throat was cut in the pub attack - also offered to provide a signed statement, republicans said.

Mr McGuinness added: "I publicly challenge [Chief Constable] Hugh Orde to explain the handling of this investigation and why charges have not been brought."

A spokeswoman for the Police Service of Northern Ireland said: "This is very much a live police investigation into a particularly brutal murder and it is not appropriate to discuss specific issues concerning witnesses or suspects."

As well as Mr Bush, the McCartney family are due to meet US senators Edward Kennedy and Hillary Clinton during their visit.

Talks have also been arranged with Richie Neal, a congressman, and Mr Bush’s special adviser on Northern Ireland, Mitchell Reiss.

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The family’s hectic itinerary will see them rub shoulders with the cream of Irish America at lavish events such as the American Ireland Fund Dinner, the Northern Ireland Bureau’s reception and the Irish embassy reception.

By contrast, Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein president, has been refused a meeting with Mr Bush, and Mr Kennedy has also called off planned talks as a direct response to Mr McCartney’s murder and the IRA’s alleged involvement in the 26.5 million Northern Bank raid.

Mr Adams has also been banned from fund-raising while in the US, prompting the cancellation of a number of gala banquets organised by the Irish American community.

Mr Adams admitted that not being invited to the White House was a symbolic "disappointment" for him and his party.

But Mr Adams added: "Do I interpret that as a movement by this administration away from the peace process? No, I don’t.

"In any case, this will not be worked out in the White House. This will be not worked out anywhere else except back on the island of Ireland."

Further pressure was heaped on the Sinn Fein president when one of his main political allies in the US, Congressman Peter King, called on the IRA to disband. He said: "As the political process moves closer to the goal line as I see it, they [the IRA] are not serving any good purpose. Gerry Adams should declare victory and tell the IRA to disband."

Meanwhile, relatives of a man stabbed to death in Londonderry in October 2003 have written to Mr Adams asking to meet him over alleged IRA involvement in the killing.

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The family of James McGinley, 23, claim that the man jailed for his manslaughter last month, Bart Fisher, is in the IRA and that members of the organisation intimidated them during the trial. Although Fisher denied involvement with the IRA, Mr McGinley’s mother, Eileen, said last night: "Nobody from Sinn Fein or the IRA has come anywhere near us since we went public with this.

"We know why the IRA got involved in the trial of our son’s killer. We know why he’s being protected and supported by the IRA and Sinn Fein.

"We don’t want answers, we want action. We want Sinn Fein to state clearly their position on this issue and we want them to help us bring this to an end."

PROVISIONALS FORGE SMUGGLING ALLIANCE WITH BRITISH GANGSTERS AFTER PRISON MEETINGS

THE Provisional IRA has forged an alliance with a network of criminal gangs on the British mainland in a multi-million pound cigarette and fuel smuggling racket, it was claimed yesterday.

A former head of the Special Branch in Belfast said links were built while IRA members and British gangsters were in high-security jails. The BBC reported allegations that the IRA was involved in the laundering of hundreds of millions of pounds, some of which was reinvested in elaborate schemes to bring illicit fuel and tobacco into the UK.

Ian Pearson, the Northern Ireland security minister, told BBC Radio 4’s File On Four that the Provisionals were now "perhaps the most sophisticated organised criminal grouping to be found anywhere in Europe, possibly anywhere in the world".

The report comes as the IRA is under pressure over its alleged involvement in crime, from the 26 million Northern Bank raid in Belfast to money-laundering in the Republic of Ireland and the murder of Robert McCartney.

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File On Four quoted police and Customs sources on both sides of the Irish border as saying that the Provisionals were involved in a "significant percentage" of cigarette and fuel smuggling in the UK, much of it originating in south Armagh.

The IRA use some of Britain’s criminal gangs as a distribution network for tobacco on which no duty has been paid, it was claimed.

And they employ expert techniques to "launder" fuel on an industrial scale, removing the marker dyes from low-tax diesel intended for agricultural or central-heating use, in order to allow it to be used illicitly by road vehicles. Irish Customs last month intercepted fuel tankers bound for Liverpool from Dublin docks that had been disguised as trailers carrying timber in order to conceal their illegal cargo, the programme reported.

It is believed that almost five million litres of fuel are being sent across the Irish Sea by one IRA group alone.

Meanwhile, a bureau de change allegedly controlled by the Provos near the border had banked 250 million in suspect cash, some of which was used as "venture capital" to fund criminal activities.

Paper trails linked the cash to criminals around the world believed to be involved in cigarette smuggling, it was reported.