John Finucane defends 'right to remember' at IRA commemoration

John Finucane addressed the event on Sunday afternoon

A Sinn Féin MP has told an IRA commemoration that everyone has "the right to remember, and the right to commemorate".

John Finucane was the main speaker at what has been billed a "South Armagh Volunteers commemoration".

He said there was "nothing to celebrate in conflict", but commemoration was "a right which everyone is entitled to".

His involvement in the event was condemned by IRA victims, unionists and the Irish government.

Earlier on Sunday, Belfast East MP Gavin Robinson of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) said Mr Finucane was "a hypocrite" for taking part.

Mr Finucane told the event that truth and justice were "something which every person who has been impacted by our conflict deserves."

"For just as truth and justice applies equally to everyone, so too does the right to remember, and the right to commemorate," he said.

Mr Finucane's father, solicitor Pat Finucane, was shot dead by loyalist gunmen at his home in Belfast in 1989.

The Sinn Féin MP said he would defend commemorations by other groups - including loyalists - "without hesitation".

"There is nothing to celebrate in conflict, or in our difficult and painful past, but to commemorate those we have loved and lost is a right which everyone, including every single one of us gathered here today, is entitled to, and we do so with dignity and with pride," he said.

The event was held earlier in south Armagh

Speaking ahead of the event, Belfast East MP Mr Robinson said Mr Finucane had a few hours to decide if he wanted to "proceed with being a hypocrite on these issues or withdraw".

"You cannot burnish your credentials as a victim one day and then tarnish the memory of victims and their loved ones the next," he told the BBC's Sunday Politics programme.

But Mr Robinson, the newly-elected deputy leader of the DUP said victims were "hurt" by the prospect of Mr Finucane's attendance at the event in Mullaghbawn.

"This should not be happening," he said.

"When we consider the need to reconcile our communities that anybody, let alone a member of Parliament and a victim, would go to a family fun day to show respect for terrorists, shows just how shallow some of the commitments about an Ireland for all are, that have been shared with us over the previous number of weeks."

Gavin Robinson said victims of terrorism were "hurt" at the move

On Friday, a relative of one of the victims of an IRA bomb atrocity in Coleraine nearly 50 years ago criticised Mr Finucane's planned appearance.

Lesley Magee's grandmother, Nan Davis, was among six Protestants killed in the Coleraine attack on 12 June 1973.

Ms Magee said celebrating terrorism was "a disgrace".

"I don't think we should be commemorating terrorism on any level, whether it be Protestant, whether it be Catholic," she told BBC News NI.

"I have equal animosity towards both. I have no issue with anyone's religion, whether it be Protestant, Catholic, Judaism - whatever; I don't care.

"I don't think any MP should be at some kind of commemoration to celebrate a terrorist," she added.

'Horrible deeds from the past'

Alliance Party assembly member Sorcha Eastwood said she was disappointed Mr Finucane took part in the event.

"There is a difference between remembering and paying tribute to individuals, and commemorating terrorist organisations, including the IRA and its South Armagh 'brigade', particularly without reference to its many victims," she said.

Ulster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie said he thought the commemoration was "scandalous".

Tánaiste (Irish Deputy Prime Minister) Micheál Martin had urged Mr Finucane not to address the commemoration, saying any attempt to "celebrate or glorify horrible deeds from the past" was not the correct way forward.

But earlier in the week, Sinn Féin assembly member Conor Murphy dismissed the row as a diversionary tactic by the DUP.

"I think what we are in here is distraction politics," Mr Murphy said.

"The real issue is here is the fact that public services are crashing round our ears."