Disclaimer: I'm not a Sinn Fein supporter. never have been and never will be.
Recently on Twitter I came across Gareth Cole, a PUP candidate for Carrickfergus. A quick look at his timeline shows him criticising Sinn Fein/IRA for the murder and terror campaign of the troubles. That's fair enough, I totally agree it was horrible. But as a member of the PUP it is a bit hypocritical to continually criticise Sinn Fein/IRA when Gareth is part of a party that is linked to the UVF. Surely it is time for this to stop.
The UVF are responsible for so many horrible acts in the past. Surely it is the time for supporters of the paramilitaries to stop the hypocrisy. I agree the IRA campaign was wrong as many others do, but there's two sides to every story and there was also a loyalist murder campaign. Either you're against all murder campaigns, or ignore that some loyalists also had a murder campaign, or you can try to justify one side of the campaign. Why are the blinkers on when it comes to the PUP/UVF's past? Was it only Sinn Fein/IRA that had a murder campaign?
Then there's Jim Allister who time and time again argues that a murderous group like Sinn Fein/IRA should not be in government or involved in politics yet he is willing to stand side by side with PUP member and alleged UVF member Winston Irvine at Orange Order speeches.
Taking a quick look at social media it seems that some loyalists are against a murder campaign unless it was carried out by their own side. When questioned about it the usual response is 'They were protecting the people of Ulster' etc, or just ignore the question totally. The people killed in Loughinisland that night posed no threat to 'the people of Ulster', just like the people murdered by the Shankill Bomb had nothing to do with keeping Northern Ireland part of Britain. Both these acts of terrorism were awful and unjustifiable.
Both Republicanism and Loyalism have a murderous past, I'm sure everyone can agree on that. The sooner both sides look at their past and address that then there will never be any progress made. All arguments end up going back to the 'Sinn Fein/IRA did this' and 'UVF did that'. It helps no one. Sort it out.
I've put the question forward to Gareth Cole a few times on Twitter now. No response at all. If he wants to be a politician then he is going to have to answer tougher questions than the one I asked him.
I'm not saying Gareth was involved in any UVF activity, my point is that he shouldn't condemn Sinn Fein/IRA for murder when his own party has it's own murky and disturbing past.
The PUP have some excellent people coming through their ranks. Some talk of common sense like Izzy Giles. The party's name is the Progressive Unionist Party but a lot of those involved in the party are the opposite of progressive.
Sinn Fein need to address the issue also. They argue it was a neccessary armed struggle. Hopefully they will come out and say they are sorry for ALL deaths caused by the IRA. That would be a step in the right direction.
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