OMAGH DOESN'T NEED POLITICAL HYPOCRISY
Omagh doesn't need political hypocrisy
I AM writing in direct response to the exclusion of myself, nurses, old age pensioners, union representatives and others from the entrance hall of our council offices in Omagh on Monday of last week.
When, finally a small representation from our number were admitted, we were told that Dr Mowlam would speak to us IN PUBLIC.
I found that she had to suffer the indignity of listening to Mr Francis Mackey, who appeared to be still engaging himself in the public affairs of this community.
I had not intended to do anything more than make my feelings clear to Dr Mowlam, but found it ironic that I was there to attempt to safeguard the jobs of the very profession of which Mr Mackey is a member!
Where was he on August 15 when nurses came from all over Northern Ireland to help, one wonders.
It appears to me that the councillors present, bar two of their number, were obviously mummified or tongue-tied since they chose to maintain the status quo, choosing the safe and easy option of staying silent as councillors Johnny McLaughlin and Anne Gormley voiced their personal distaste at his presence in the chamber and walked out as a mark of respect for the dead, the bereaved and the injured.
Yet not one of the other councillors present had the courage or the guts to stand up and be counted on our behalf when it mattered. I personally drew my own conclusions from that, as I am sure will thousands of others.
Who in God's name with an ounce of human decency and feeling in them at all could carry on with business as usual without venting at least some viewpoint on the warped and bigoted stance Mr Mackey took in the aftermath of August 15, when confronted with the world's media.
In my opinion he knew then exactly what he was doing. Be under no illusion, his game-plan involved the exploitation of the huge media presence to launch his 32-County Sovereignty Committee onto the world stage at a stroke... all, I might add, at the expense of those so brutally murdered, including Libbi, my dear wife and soulmate. May they all rest in God's loving care.
Yet last Tuesday night this person of no fixed political abode had the gall to accuse Messrs McLaughlin and Gormley of cheap expedient politics. Is there no end to his hypocrisy?
Not surprisingly their common sense, dignity and better judgment prevailed on the night.
No right-thinking human being could relish an engagement with someone who forever shall remain steeped in notoriety in the history books of this town, as the atrocity which was visited upon its people is mulled over and discussed for generations to come.
Consequently I wish to state publicly that, for my own part, I shall protest vigorously at this councillor's involvement in anything to do with the remembrance of these innocent people, and the memory of my dear wife, slaughtered by the military wing of the party he presides over. Councillor Mackey may have dealt a fatal blow to his political career, however he will find no solace or sympathy from me. He still has a wife to go home to - I do not.
Laurence Rush,
Omagh
PS As a further comment and not intending to detract from the above, I wish to ask when can our council organise the opening of Lower Market
Street and the demolition of the bombed buildings, as this is like an open coffin to the bereaved and injured: its constant presence is a horrendous memorial to the dead and injured.
I AM writing in direct response to the exclusion of myself, nurses, old age pensioners, union representatives and others from the entrance hall of our council offices in Omagh on Monday of last week.
When, finally a small representation from our number were admitted, we were told that Dr Mowlam would speak to us IN PUBLIC.
I found that she had to suffer the indignity of listening to Mr Francis Mackey, who appeared to be still engaging himself in the public affairs of this community.
I had not intended to do anything more than make my feelings clear to Dr Mowlam, but found it ironic that I was there to attempt to safeguard the jobs of the very profession of which Mr Mackey is a member!
Where was he on August 15 when nurses came from all over Northern Ireland to help, one wonders.
It appears to me that the councillors present, bar two of their number, were obviously mummified or tongue-tied since they chose to maintain the status quo, choosing the safe and easy option of staying silent as councillors Johnny McLaughlin and Anne Gormley voiced their personal distaste at his presence in the chamber and walked out as a mark of respect for the dead, the bereaved and the injured.
Yet not one of the other councillors present had the courage or the guts to stand up and be counted on our behalf when it mattered. I personally drew my own conclusions from that, as I am sure will thousands of others.
Who in God's name with an ounce of human decency and feeling in them at all could carry on with business as usual without venting at least some viewpoint on the warped and bigoted stance Mr Mackey took in the aftermath of August 15, when confronted with the world's media.
In my opinion he knew then exactly what he was doing. Be under no illusion, his game-plan involved the exploitation of the huge media presence to launch his 32-County Sovereignty Committee onto the world stage at a stroke... all, I might add, at the expense of those so brutally murdered, including Libbi, my dear wife and soulmate. May they all rest in God's loving care.
Yet last Tuesday night this person of no fixed political abode had the gall to accuse Messrs McLaughlin and Gormley of cheap expedient politics. Is there no end to his hypocrisy?
Not surprisingly their common sense, dignity and better judgment prevailed on the night.
No right-thinking human being could relish an engagement with someone who forever shall remain steeped in notoriety in the history books of this town, as the atrocity which was visited upon its people is mulled over and discussed for generations to come.
Consequently I wish to state publicly that, for my own part, I shall protest vigorously at this councillor's involvement in anything to do with the remembrance of these innocent people, and the memory of my dear wife, slaughtered by the military wing of the party he presides over. Councillor Mackey may have dealt a fatal blow to his political career, however he will find no solace or sympathy from me. He still has a wife to go home to - I do not.
Laurence Rush,
Omagh
PS As a further comment and not intending to detract from the above, I wish to ask when can our council organise the opening of Lower Market
Street and the demolition of the bombed buildings, as this is like an open coffin to the bereaved and injured: its constant presence is a horrendous memorial to the dead and injured.
Further Information
Publisher: THE IRISH NEWS
Ref: IN/0444
Published Date: 15-Oct-98
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