Scottish Catholic Observer

Church leaders and politicians have decried the murder of a Catholic policeman in Omagh, Northern Ireland, as graffiti praising the killing and threatening further attacks was found daubed on walls in Derry.

As the SCO went to press, the funeral of Ronan Kerr (right), a constable for the Police Service Northern Ireland (PSNI), was set to take place at the Immaculate Conception Church in Beragh. He was killed when a bomb exploded under his car on Saturday afternoon.

Dissident republicans, who are believed to be deliberately targeting Catholic officers in order to try to deter them from joining the PSNI, have been blamed for the weekend’s attack in Omagh’s Highfield estate, which killed the 25-year-old policeman.

Church

Mr Kerr’s mother Nuala has urged young Catholics not to be deterred from joining the police force in Northern Ireland, a call that was backed by Bishop Seamus Hegarty of Derry, who said that ‘this crime, against a man who served and protected the public, is a crime against all in our society.’

Ireland’s most senior Catholic clergyman, Cardinal Seán Brady, spoke of Mr Kerr’s ‘courageous’ decision to join the PSNI and urged Catholics to join the police force in defiance of those who murdered Mr Kerr.

Archbishop Alan Harper of Armagh and Rev Ken Good, the Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, said there was ‘no words to adequately describe the inhumanity’ of the murder.

“The cruelty and shame of those who committed this act, either in planting the device or in supplying of information, is displayed to all of the world,” they said in a joint statement. “It has brought needless devastation to the family of this young officer. It is also an act for which those responsible will indeed answer not only to their conscience but to their maker.”

Political backlash

Mourners at Wednesday’s Funeral Mass were expected to include Peter Robinson, Northern Ireland’s First Minister—the first Catholic funeral Mass he has attended—and Taoiseach Edna Kenny, the Irish Prime Minister.

Martin McGuinness, Northern Ireland’s deputy first minister and one of Sinn Féin’s most prominent figures and former chief of staff of the Provisional IRA, this week warned dissident republicans that that they are fighting a ‘useless war against peace’ and said the killers of Mr Kerr were the ‘enemies of the people of Ireland.’

Mr McGuiness, also expected at the funeral, was joined at Stormont on Monday by Mr Robinson, David Ford, Northern Ireland’s justice minister, and Matt Baggott, chief constable of the PSNI, to condemn those who targeted Mr Kerr, who was a member of a Gaelic football club.

“Our community has been absolutely united over the course of the weekend,” Mr McGuinness said. “We have had a united voice from the community, from church leaders, from civic leaders, from leaders of all the political parties, north and south and, very powerfully, from the Gaelic Athletic Association.

“The people who murdered Ronan Kerr need to consider all of that, consider how isolated they are, and they need to bring their activities to an immediate end.”

Mr McGuinness warned the dissidents they would not destroy the peace process or derail the power-sharing government, adding that if they intended it to embarrass Sinn Féin, that, too ‘would not happen.’

Politicians and church leaders have urged anybody with information on the car bomb that killed Mr Kerr to come forward.

Bitter history

It was reported on Tuesday that graffiti praising the murder of Mr Kerr and threatening further attacks had been daubed on walls in the Bogside estate in Derry, an area with a predominantly republican population.

One slogan read: “GAA cops, look what use [sic] got,” referring to Mr Kerr’s membership of a Gaelic football club.

Outgoing SDLP MLA Pat Ramsey said that it was the second day that such ‘despicable and disgusting’ slogans had appeared.

“People really are outraged by this,” Mr Ramsay said of the graffiti.

The murder of Mr Kerr came almost 15 months after Peadar Heffron, a Catholic police officer who played for the PSNI Gaelic football team, lost his legs in a similar car bomb attack.

The town of Omagh, County Tyrone, was also at the centre of what was called ‘the worst single terrorist atrocity’ in Northern Ireland when—in August 1998—a car bomb set off by the Real IRA killed 29 people and injured more than 200.

As Mr Kerr’s funeral took place on Wednesday, large crowds were expected to gather in Belfast city centre for a trade-union organised peace rally to protest against the murder. A peace walk in Omagh was also being organised for Sunday.

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