Hard cases make bad laws
The sun just set on the Beara and lit Tooth Mountain in a fuschia-coloured glow. It was certainly something to see. This nature thing is really very wonderful. It can keep me distracted for hours. But it cannot stop me thinking about the McCartney sisters. Several days of Republican parades and Easter commemorations up and down the country provided the Sinn Féin leadership with enough platforms to denounce the people responsible for Robert McCartney's murder. And they were denounced. But I still do not get it. If these people cloak themselves in the mantle of Irish Republicanism, how come republicans have not banished them from their ranks permanently, ostracised them from their communities, named and shamed them within the wider republican family and left them without a single rock to hide under?
Instead, there has been a distinctly adolescent tone to several key Republican statements. First, McGuinness sounds-off like a menacing, sexist schoolyard bully, warning the McCartney women not to meddle in politics, and then the IRA's Easter statement echoes with juvenile pique, because "no matter what we do it will never be enough for some." All that was missing was a door slamming, the yell of "nobody understands us!" and the stomp, stomp, stomp of huffy, teenage feet climbing the stairs to play Marilyn Manson at full volume.
A few days later, Daily Ireland made a really good stab at gutter journalism (23 March). Finding it impossible to uncover a real story about the McCartneys and shadowy puppet-masters, they published an "unreal one". They dispatched a reporter off to find out how the McCartneys paid for their trip to the US. "Scoop" discovered that a leading Belfast member of the SDLP has a half-share in the local travel agents where the women purchased their tickets. SHOCK! HORROR!
Daily Ireland should know better. They too have been the victims of unwarranted persecution and scurrilous allegations and inferences (this column 26 February), making their behaviour all the more despicable. As Catherine McCartney said to Village last week, "If they had wanted to know how we paid for the trip why didn't they just ask me directly?" Why didn't you, Daily Ireland?
Of course, others with a political axe to grind will attempt to exploit the McCartney's tragedy for their own ends, but they can do that only as long as Sinn Féin allows the perpetrators to stick two fingers up at the McCartneys and everyone else. Getting all steamed up about the manipulations and hypocrisy of political opponents jumping on the Kick-the-Shinners-while-they're-down-bandwagon rings hollow as long as Republican efforts to deal with the scumbags in their midst remain half-hearted and half-baked.
In comparison to Sinn Féin's questionable attempts to bring the murderers of Robert McCartney to task, Michael McDowell's miserly acquiescence that he may have been "a bit harsh" looks like St Paul's revelation on the road to Damascus. Well, nearly. A six-month reprieve for a Leaving Cert student to return and finish his studies is hardly the stuff of miracles, but given that it was the Minister for Arrogance who made the climb-down, it was a hell of an event to witness. The shock registered by the whole country at his volte face – although it was more of a side-step than an about-turn – speaks volumes about the man and his imperviousness to the arguments of others, no matter how informed or logical they might be.
If only he had introduced detention camps for asylum seekers and refugees like the Aussies and the Brits. That way, those Nigerians would have been just more unwanted immigrants with no names, no faces and no friends. Then again, there is always the obvious option – he could introduce a coherent and transparent immigration policy and try reading the files of those designated for deportation himself. If you are going to condemn people by returning them to a living death in their country of birth, surely it is the least one can do.
But just the day before the nation was transfixed by the Minister's soft and cuddly side, in fact it was whilst he was expounding as to why the deportations should not be reviewed, a most disturbing thing occurred. For all of several seconds I found myself agreeing with Michael McDowell. It was very disconcerting. When he said, "hard cases make bad laws," I was nodding like a back seat doggy. Absolutely, Michael, never a truer word was spoken. So how come you are still Minister for Justice?