DUP's Jonathan Buckley asks First Minister Michelle O'Neill if there was an alternative to IRA 'act of genocide' at Kingsmill.

News Letter

Watch DUP's Jonathan Buckley asks First Minister Michelle O'Neill if there was an alternative to IRA 'act of genocide' at Kingsmill. - News Letter on Dailymotion

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00:00 The 5th of January 1976 will mark one of the most barbaric and dark days of the Northern

00:07 Ireland Troubles. Ten innocent men lined up on the side of a South Armagh road and put

00:13 to the sword by the Provisional IRA. I pay tribute to the sole survivor of that attack,

00:21 Alan Black, who I spoke to just again this morning. Eighteen times he was shot and for

00:27 over now some 48 years he has fought the pursuit of justice for those families. His words,

00:36 they're crying out from the grave and I hear them. Friday brought the end to an eight year

00:44 inquest into those killings and whilst there is some warming evidence to show that yes

00:52 it was an action of the Provisional IRA which was authorised by the Army Council and planned

00:59 long in advance, whilst these findings help that family who perhaps have felt the cold

01:07 dark veil of silence from that organisation over many years. But there's still many questions

01:13 unanswered. The family feel the need now towards a public inquiry and we support that call

01:20 and we would call publicly now on the police ombudsman to publish their report and allow

01:26 without delay their findings to be published to allow this process to continue. We support

01:32 that family and call out both the British Government and indeed the Irish Government

01:37 who have objectively failed the victims of IRA violence and the victims of wider troubles

01:44 in Northern Ireland. But he also pointed towards the silence of those that give the Provisional

01:51 IRA political cover, namely Sinn Féin. Silence, no co-operation with the inquiry itself, the

02:01 inquest, but does their actions match their words and let's look at their actions, whether

02:07 it was the taunting of victims when a Sinn Féin MP placed a loaf of Kingsmill's bread

02:12 on their head, whether it was the naming of a children's play park after the terrorist

02:18 Raymond McCrease who was named in the inquest as having fingerprints and hands on some of

02:23 the very guns that were used not only in this atrocity but indeed others, whether it was

02:29 Gerry Calley's statement which talked about victims deserving the truth from Kingsmill,

02:36 this from a victim maker. The truth lies within their ranks and I would encourage them now

02:43 even at this stage to please co-operate, give Allan Black and the family the justice that

02:48 they deserve, the truth that they're calling out for and as for the First Minister for

02:53 all, where is she today? Was there an alternative? Surely there was to what was only be described

03:02 as an act of genocide. Thank you Mr Speaker.

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