Why won't IRA tell all about its atrocities?

Even amid all the horror of the Troubles it ranks as one of the most senseless, sectarian and savage atrocities. Twelve people died and over 30 more were horrifically injured in the La Mon hotel bombing. They had been attending the annual dinner of the Irish Collie Club.

Whatever sick motivation lay behind the IRA's decision to target a group of dog lovers out for their annual 'do’ that February evening 30 years ago we will probably never know.

But that's not to say there aren't people still around who could provide some answers. People who were once at the very heart of the republican movement that planned and carried out that attack.

And are now at the very heart of government in Stormont Take, for example, Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness — is there information that these men could give that might provide clarity for the still grieving victims? If the Sinn Fein leaders do know anything, they're not saying. Despite being generally to the forefront when it comes to calling for full disclosure from others, the pair are oddly coy when it comes to any sort of disclosure whatsoever from the IRA. They demand answers about 'state' violence. Given the (paying) role they both hold in the Stormont Assembly, where Martin McGuinness is Deputy First Minister, surely they must now feel a similar duty to tell what they themselves know about republican violence.

Given that both men have supported the spending of mega millions on the Search for truth about Bloody Sunday surely they believe it is equally pressing that no expense — or reputation — should be spared in the hunt for the truth about the equally terrible horror of La Mon. Yet their silence on who did what, who ordered what within the IRA, has been deafening. But then, where is the pressure on either of them to tell what they know?

There has been no media hounding, no documentary films about the horror of what happened at La Mon. Unlike Bloody Sunday, the massacre of La Mon and the search for truth about it did not inspire an international campaign for answers.

Outside of Northern Ireland it has not become a 'liberal' cause celebre. And even here, even among the politicians who could have campaigned for some sort of disclosure about who and what was involved, little pressure is exerted. As he cosies up to his chuckling chum Martin at Stormont, Ian Paisley is well placed to ask a few pertinent questions in the right ear. But how much chance of that these days?

The DUP may not be especially perturbed that some relatives and victims of the La Mon bombing are now demanding that the DUP leader stay away from an official commemoration to mark the anniversary. But maybe they should be. For more than any recent development, that outpouring of anger speaks volumes about the unresolved grief and bitterness that haunts this place.

These victims of La Mon are not some bunch of mad extremists. They are what they were that night when murderous evil descended upon them. Decent honourable people targeted for no good reason other than the fact that they were an easy 'hit' for cowards. They deserve answers in the same way that other victims deserve answers. By appointing four victims commissioners, the Chuckle regime wants to be seen to be signalling that the search for truth will be all-encompassing, the treatment of victims fair and transparent. In which case clarity begins at home. Up at Stormont. There's a man sitting right at the heart of government who could surely supply some answers about atrocities like La Mon. But he isn't telling. And there's a man sitting right beside him. Who isn't asking. 30th January 2008 Belfast Telegraph