Murder of Robert Mc Cartney - Political Fall-out

Political Fall-out

Gerry Adams, President of Sinn Féin, urged witnesses to come forward to "the family, a solicitor, or any other authoritative or reputable person or body". Adams continued, "I want to make it absolutely clear that no one involved acted as a republican or on behalf of republicans." He suspended twelve members of Sinn Féin. Adams stopped short of asking witnesses to contact the police directly, unsurprising in light of Sinn Féin's historic lack of confidence in the police in Northern Ireland, whether it be the PSNI or its predecessor the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). The usefulness of making witness statements to the victim's family or to a solicitor was derided by the McCartneys and by a prominent lawyer and SDLP politician, Alban Maginness, soon afterwards.

On 16 February 2005, the IRA issued a statement denying involvement in the murder and calling on the perpetrators to "take responsibility".

On 8 March 2005, the IRA issued an unprecedented statement saying that four people were directly involved in the murder, that the IRA knew their identity, that two were IRA volunteers, and that the IRA had made an offer to McCartney's family to shoot the people directly involved in the murder.

In May 2005, Sinn Féin lost its council seat in the Pottinger area which covers the Short Strand, with the McCartney family attributing the loss to events surrounding the murder.

Since this time, the sisters of Robert McCartney have maintained an increasingly public campaign for justice which saw Sinn Féin chief negotiator Martin McGuinness make a public statement that the sisters should be careful that they were not being manipulated for political ends.

The McCartney family travelled to the United States during the 2005 St Patrick's Day celebrations where they were met by US Senators (including Hillary Clinton and John McCain) and US President George W. Bush who expressed support in their campaign for justice.

Support for Sinn Féin by some American politicians was diminished. Gerry Adams was not invited to the White House in 2005 and Senator Edward Kennedy backed out of a meeting that had been previously scheduled. The McCartney family, previously Sinn Féin supporters, pledged to never support Sinn Féin again, and a cousin of the sisters who raised funds for the political party in the United States has said that she would not be doing so in the future.

In December, the McCartney sisters met with UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, and told him they believed the murder had been ordered by a senior IRA member, and that Sinn Féin was still not doing all it could to help them.

On 31 January 2007, two years after the murder, and in line with the Party's new policy of supporting civil policing, Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams said that anyone with information about the murder should go to the police.