There's not a death that I regret.
Loyalist death squad leader Billy Wright in one of his
last interviews with journalist David Sharrock, before
being killed in Long Kesh by the INLA.
It was a circuitous justification of the high incidence
of atrocities perpetrated against the most vulnerable
people, the pregnant mothers and pensioners who have
been murdered in this area [Mid-Ulster].
David Sharrock commenting on Billy Wright's
justification for sectarian murder.
People are resigned to the fact that, because of their
religion, the street in which they live and the pub
they visit, they may die at the hands of loyalists.
Catholics are nervous. They are looking over their
shoulders.
SDLP Councillor in North Belfast after the sectarian
killing of Eddie Treanor in the Clifton pub on New
Year's Eve by a loyalist death squad.
Can Councillor Davidson explain to the nationalist
people what he meant by his assertion on a BBC news
programme today that there are two types of violence
here, one aggressive and the other defensive?
Derry Sinn Féin Councillor Mary Nelis on the UUP's
Andrew Davidson's remarks that loyalist violence was
`defensive' and `reactive'.
Some of these [Unionist leaders] seem to be utterly
unmoved by the sufferings of the Catholic community.
They always qualify their so-called condemnations by
implying that the actions of sectarian assassins in
their own community are understandable, because they
are being `provoked'.
West Belfast priest Father Paddy McCafferty. Tuesday 6
January.
The only list of concessions has been that published by
the Ulster Unionist Party as concessions they indicated
they had won from the British government in September
to return to the talks after the summer.
Women's Coalition's Monica McWilliams on unionist
claims of concessions to republican at the Stormont
talks. Tuesday 6 January.
...the Ulster Unionist Party is exploiting loyalist
fears for their own purposes.
Prisoners in Northern Ireland should face up to one
simple truth. The only reason the British government is
unwilling to be imaginative on prisons is because the
Ulster Unionist Party would cry foul if it did.
The UUP's game is to see the peace process collapse. It
is now positioning itself to blame the two governments.
The PUP and UDP are playing into David Trimble's hands.
Irish News editorial. Wednesday 7 January.
The lies about concessions, which... if any had been
given would be rights, not concessions, have encouraged
extreme loyalists to believe their own rights are
threatened.
The result is the old, old story. 1997 has been no
different from 1966, 1969, 1972, 1975, 1986. In each of
those years governments of one kind or another began to
address nationalist grievances. Whenever that happens
unionist leaders start to bleat about reforms and as
night follows day murder gangs start to kill Catholics.
Irish News columnist Brian Feeney. Wednesday 7 January
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