A former IRA man whose funeral took place this week was “no hero”, Northern Ireland’s deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly has said.
Several senior Sinn Fein figures, including party president Mary Lou McDonald paid tributes to Brendan “Bik” McFarlane following his death on Friday at the age of 74.
McFarlane was jailed in 1976 for his part in a gun and bomb attack on the Bayardo Bar in Belfast in which five people were killed.
He was subsequently one of 38 IRA prisoners who escaped from the Maze Prison in Co Antrim in 1983.
Mourners attend the funeral of Brendan ‘Bik’ McFarlane at Milltown Cemetery, Belfast, this week (Niall Carson/PA)
Ms McDonald described him as “a great patriot who lived his life for the freedom and unity of Ireland”.
Celtic Football Club has also faced calls to take action after fans at a match this week unfurled a banner which described McFarlane as a “hero”.
Asked about the tributes to McFarlane, Ms Little-Pengelly of the DUP said: “I think it’s very, very clear to me, and I think for most people, that any person that sets out to kill and take an innocent life is no hero.
“I think it is important for us all to remember all of those who lost loved ones to violence, all of those who lost family members, who have grieved, who continue to grieve, who lost their loved ones to that unnecessary violence of the past.
“And I think it’s absolutely wrong that we would glorify any of those activities.”
Ms Little-Pengelly added: “I think most people are rightly horrified when they see such a person being referred to as a hero.
“So I want to take the opportunity to remember the victims, the innocent victims of that person, and the grief and the mourning that those families have had to endure for many decades.”
First Minister Michelle O’Neill said everyone has a right to remember their dead (Liam McBurney/PA)
First Minister Michelle O’Neill said she did not want to “tread on anyone’s grief”.
The Sinn Fein vice president said: “I think it’s important that we all maintain that everybody has a right and to respect their dad, to remember their dead.
“And in this case in particular, I’m very conscious of the fact that only in the last few days a family have laid their father to rest.
“Three children have led their father to rest, and a wife has laid her husband to rest.
“I’m also very conscious that over the course of conflict, many people have lost loved ones, and I think we need to be respectful of that, find ways to try to heal.
“But everybody has a right to remember their dead. That includes republicans.”