La Mon victims lash out at power-sharing

A group of victims from the IRA's firebomb atrocity at La Mon House Hotel last night affirmed their "disgust" at the DUP sharing government with Sinn Fein. The tensions have surfaced as plans were being made to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the attack. Some of the victims went so far as to say that First Minister Ian Paisley would not be welcome at the event, however, DUP sources said yesterday that there were never any plans to invite him. Twelve people were killed and many more badly burned when the IRA firebomb turned the small country hotel into a raging inferno on February 17, 1978. "I am disgusted. It is sickening to see Paisley and McGuinness, the Chuckle Brothers, getting on that way," said Billy McDowell, who spent four weeks in hospital being treated for burns after the attack – his wife spent a further three months in hospital after him. "I am probably speaking on behalf of thousands of victims across Northern Ireland," said Mr McDowell. "For 40 years Paisley said they would never sit down with Sinn Fein. "We have still not resolved the Robert McCartney murder, the Northern Bank robbery and the destruction of the structures of the IRA. The fact is that Martin McGuinness is a self-confessed IRA man and when we think back Paisley would not sit in the same room as him." A prominent Sinn Fein member was previously arrested in relation to the attack and was named by DUP MP Iris Robinson under Parliamentary privilege as being involved. But the latest controversy broke yesterday after an interview with Mr McDowell and two other individuals on the La Mon committee at Castlereagh council was published in a Sunday newspaper. Mr McDowell said last night that all three were speaking purely in a personal capacity but stood over their comments in opposing the idea of Dr Paisley attending the 30th anniversary event. One the interviewees, Rita Morrison, formerly Rita Crawford, lost her daughter and son-in-law in the bomb, Elizabeth and Ian McCracken, aged 23 and 24. "It came as a big shock when the DUP were falling into line with Sinn Fein after the St Andrews agreement," she said. "The doctor who identified my daughter and son-in-law said he had no idea what he was looking at. They were just a black mass on the floor." While paying tribute to the work of the DUP for the victims of the atrocity, she said "relationships had changed" since St Andrews and in her personal view "the DUP would not be welcome" at the 30th anniversary event. But Ian Paisley Jr said the First Minister wasn't invited to the commemoration, adding "you don't come to something you are not invited to". Castlereagh Borough DUP Council councillor Jimmy Spratt sits on the council's La Mon committee and affirmed there were never any plans to invite Dr Paisley. Nobody had done more for La Mon victims than Iris Robinson of the DUP, who is also a member of the council committee, he added. A DUP spokesman said: "The party understands the hurt of victims and we understand the current arrangements at Stormont are not easy for some people. But we must build for the future so we don't return to similar events such as La Mon." News Letter 28th January 2008