Tribute to former IRA man at Féile 'disgusting'

Brendan McFarlane was the leader of IRA prisoners in the Maze during the 1981 hunger strike

The family of Linda Boyle, who was killed in a bomb in west Belfast in 1975, have said they are "absolutely disgusted" by the "sick" tribute to former senior IRA member Brendan McFarlane at this year's Féile an Phobail event.

McFarlane was jailed for the gun and bomb attack on the Bayardo Bar on Belfast's Shankill Road, which killed five people, including Ms Boyle, and injured 60 others.

Linda Boyle was 17-years-old when she died from the injuries she sustained in the attack.

The tribute to McFarlane took place during a performance by the band Shebeen during the Féile an Phobail festival in Falls Park on Sunday.

Linda Boyle was 17 when she died from the injuries she sustained in the attack

On Tuesday, speaking ahead of the 50th anniversary of the Bayardo pub bombing, the family of Linda Boyle issued a statement which said: "Wednesday will be a particularly difficult day although there have been few easy days since the Provisional IRA stole away our beautiful Linda and the others that fateful day."

It went on to say how Linda would now be of retirement age and should be "relaxing and exploring a further chapter of life".

"Linda's storybook was ended before she got beyond her first chapter," it added.

'Cruel and crass'

It's understood that during the event on Sunday, the band Shebeen performed a song called 'Marcella', written by McFarlane in memory of hunger striker Bobby Sands.

A picture of McFarlane was then projected onto the stage screen behind the band to a crowd of thousands.

Linda Boyle's family described the tribute as "absolutely disgusting, especially as the 50th anniversary was only a few days away".

"Why do some within this society continue to stoke the fires, why do they want to continue to hurt the innocent?" they added.

Kenny Donaldson from the South East Fermanagh Foundation, a terrorism victims advocacy group, said that for this tribute to come just days before the anniversary of the bombing is "particularly cruel and crass".

He said it was "shameful" and those involved "will have been very aware of what they were doing".

Brendan 'Bik' McFarlane died in February.

He was the leader of IRA prisoners in the Maze during the 1981 hunger strike, where he was serving five life sentences for murder.

McFarlane also led a mass escape of 38 inmates from the prison near Lisburn in 1983.

One prison officer died of a heart attack after being stabbed and six other officers were stabbed or shot during the escape.

He was later caught in Amsterdam and extradited to Northern Ireland along with fellow escapee, Sinn Féin's Gerry Kelly.

Féile an Phobail have been contacted for a response.