O’Neill: Ruling on shooting of IRA men confirmed what families ‘already knew’

A court ruling that SAS soldiers were not justified in killing four IRA members in a 1992 ambush in Co Tyrone confirmed what their families and the local community already knew, Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill said.

Ms O’Neill welcomed the judgment of coroner Mr Justice Michael Humphreys, who found that the soldiers did not have an honest belief in the necessity of using lethal force.

Four Provisional IRA members – Kevin Barry O’Donnell, 21, Sean O’Farrell, 23, Peter Clancy, 19, and Daniel Vincent, 20 – were shot dead by the soldiers minutes after they had carried out a gun attack on Coalisland RUC station in February 1992.

Mr Justice Humphreys, who is Northern Ireland’s presiding coroner, delivered his findings at an inquest for the four men last month.

He found that the soldiers’ use of lethal force was unjustified and not reasonable.

Ms O’Neill, who grew up in Clonoe, Co Tyrone, welcomed the judgment.

She told PA news agency: “I think that these families deserve all the credit because they have been campaigning for decades to expose the truth of what happened to their loved ones.

“The ruling did say that it was unjustified, the action was unjustified.

“It confirmed what the community already knew, and it confirmed what the families already knew.

“I do welcome the fact that the families at least have got to this juncture, and that they’ve got that public ruling that will support them, and what they’ve always indicated from day one that that was actually the case.”

At a hearing on Thursday morning at Belfast’s Royal Courts of Justice, Mr Justice Humphreys confirmed he will refer the case to Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Herron to review it.

He said he has no discretion in the matter and is required to send the referral under the Justice Northern Ireland Act, 2002.

The inquest findings generated a political controversy and faced criticism from unionist and Conservative elected representatives.

In response to Thursday’s proceedings, DUP leader Gavin Robinson said prosecutors should focus on the IRA members involved in the attack on the RUC station before the four men were killed.

Former Northern Ireland first minister Arlene Foster described the coroner’s findings as “perverse”.

Asked for her reaction to unionists’ statements, Ms O’Neill said: “They have to answer for how they react or what they would say. I would say this, all families are entitled to truth and justice.

“We’ve got a very difficult and complicated past. I want to be able to help families to heal.

“I want to be somebody who plays their part in terms of healing the wounds of the past. But this is why the British Government need to repeal the Legacy Act and actually go back to the drawing board.

“We had a political agreement in the Stormont House Agreement, which was a way in which to deal with the past, that we ensure that all families have their opportunity for truth and justice. That remains my position.

“That’s where I want us to get to and the British Government need to do the right thing here and allow all families to get what they need, because all families that have lost, all mothers that have lost, they’ve all been grieved.

“They’ve all lost their loved one. They miss them every day. Let’s try and find ways to give families what they need.”

Ms O’Neill hit out at a number of Tory and Reform MPs who also criticised the coroner’s judgment.

She said: “These are the same Tories that brought in this reckless, non human rights-compliant legislation.

“These were Tories that were prepared to protect those in the British Government, at the highest echelons of the British government, that actually killed Irish citizens. So I don’t think we’ll take any lectures from any of the Tories in London.”