The Irish News
Barry McCaffrey
The parents of south Armagh murder victim Paul Quinn have renewed their challenge to Sinn Fein MP Conor Murphy to withdraw his claim that their son was involved in criminality.
Paul Quinn (21) was lured to a farm on the border in October 2007 and beaten by a masked gang with iron bars.
He died in hospital the following day.
The dead man's family blamed the IRA, although the claim was strenuously rejected by Sinn Fein.
There was widespread speculation about the motive for the murder at the time, with the Quinn family claiming it was linked to a fall-out with a prominent republican, while others, including Mr Murphy and then taoiseach Bertie Ahern, claiming it was linked to a fall-out among smugglers.
Mr Ahern later apologised to the Quinn family and said that he had not meant to insult the dead man's memory.
"As I previously stated when asked about this matter the only people in this case who are criminals are the ones who murdered Paul," he told the Dail in December 2007.
However Stephen and Breege Quinn yesterday challenged Mr Murphy to withdraw similar comments he made weeks after their son's murder.
"He provided nothing to back this up and we are certain that he has never provided any details of this to either the Gardai or the PSNI," they said.
"Paul cannot defend himself.
"He made similar claims on a number of other occasions on the air and in the newspapers but never put forward any evidence."
"Conor Murphy has refused many requests from us to withdraw his slur on a man who cannot answer for himself but so far has ignored those requests just as he entered the Europa by the back door to avoid meeting us last year."
Mr Quinn's parents said that the MP's comments had caused major pain to his family.
"He is our MP but we have no knowledge of him ever inquiring from either police force how the investigation is going," they said.
They have called on voters to challenge the Sinn Fein MP in next month's Westminster election by quizzing him on their doorsteps about the accusations.
A Sinn Fein spokesman said the party supported "the family of Paul Quinn in their campaign for justice and condemned his murder in the strongest possible terms.
"Conor Murphy has made repeated offers to meet the family of Paul Quinn. The family have refused these meetings," a spokesman said.
"He has also raised this case with the PSNI and the Gardai on numerous occasions.
"There are those who are long-time political opponents of Sinn Fein and the peace process who have sought to use this murder for their own narrow political ends.
"They have sought to link republicans to this murder without ever bringing forward a shred of evidence to support their claims.
"What is now important is that the killers of Paul Quinn are brought to justice through the courts and Sinn Fein will continue to support all efforts to see this happen."
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