McFarren Case Further Exposes British State Sponsored Murder In Ireland
It has emerged that an RUC/PSNI Special Branch agent working within the Ulster Defence Association may have been involved in the murder of up to twenty people. Stephen ‘Inch’ McFarren’s role as a British agent emerged during his trial, earlier this year, for the manslaughter of his former colleague Roy Green. While McFarren received a five year sentence for this crime he has not been charged in relation to his activities as the as so-called ‘military commander’ of the notorious south Belfast UDA.
The Six County police Ombudsman, Nuala O’Loan is now being asked to investigate whether a concerted effort was made to ensure that McFarren escaped prosecution for his role in other killings to which he has been linked, including the murder of five people in Sean Graham’s bookmakers on the Ormeau Road in 1992.
In light of O’Loan’s recent report on RUC/PSNI collusion in north Belfast, supporters of the British presence in Ireland have repeatedly claimed that state collusion in murder only occurred on a small scale, in a limited geographic area and in the far, distant past. The McFerran case exposes these claims for the lies that they are. McFerran, who was a key member of the leadership of the south Belfast UDA throughout their campaign of sectarian slaughter against the nationalist and republican community, was able to remain outside the law until 2003. The task now facing O’ Loan is to expose the full extent of RUC/PSNI collusion with the pro-British death squads.
For republicans of course, this comes as no surprise. For decades, nationalists and republicans throughout the Six Counties have lived with the reality of the state actively assisting the pro-British death squads. What is significant in the recent revelations is that they come at a time of unparalleled hysteria about a ‘new beginning’ for the Six County state.
Commenting on these latest revelations Éirígí spokesperson Daithí Mac An Mháistír stated ‘Collusion has been imbedded at the heart of the RUC since the foundation of the state. From the McMahon murders in 1922 through to this latest revelation, the RUC/PSNI has worked in tandem with pro-British death squads. The central problem with the RUC/PSNI is the pro-union ideology which forms the basis of its very existence. It was formed to protect the Six County state and to preserve the union with Britain. That function is no different today. The ‘lick of paint’ approach we have seen to date will achieve little. Meaningful progress on the issue of policing can only be achieved in the context of a British withdrawal and the establishment of truly democratic policing structures on an island-wide basis.’