Word: feins
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...Ireland that has long surrounded crimes committed by I.R.A. members, the family has galvanized public opinion against the I.R.A., which for the past 35 years has claimed to be defending the Catholics of Northern Ireland from Protestant gunmen. According to a recent poll, nearly half the supporters of Sinn Fein, the I.R.A.'s political wing, want the group to disband. While the sisters basked in Washington goodwill, Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams was snubbed by congressional allies and disinvited from the St. Patrick's Day party at the White House. Says Congressman Peter King, a longtime Sinn Fein supporter...
...I.R.A. released a signed statement that it had offered to shoot the men responsible, an offer the McCartney family said it rejected. Since then more victims of I.R.A. thuggery have gone public. Outrage at the I.R.A.'s failure to root out criminal elements has focused scrutiny on Sinn Fein, which is already under pressure to distance itself from the I.R.A. after a $50 million robbery at a Belfast bank in December that the British and Irish governments have blamed on the armed group. Congressional supporters of Sinn Fein say the group must dismantle the I.R.A. if it hopes to revive...
...Under assault from its traditional base as never before, Sinn Fein is struggling to prevent a further slide. Party leader Gerry Adams' approval rating has plummeted in the Irish Republic by 21 points since October, from 51% to 30%; Sinn Fein's figures have dipped, too, from 12% to 9%. At Sinn Fein's annual conference on Saturday, Adams said the McCartney murder is "a huge issue for us," adding that "as president of Sinn Fein or as an individual, I could not campaign for the victims of British or unionist paramilitary thuggery if I was not as clear...
...Seven Sinn Fein members accused by the victim's family of involvement in the killing have been suspended. Adams also said he would instruct his solicitor to hand over the names of people the McCartneys have implicated in the case to Northern Ireland's Police Ombudsman. This represents a huge concession for Northern Ireland's leading republican. The taboo on helping the police - blamed for collusion with loyalist paramilitaries - is still strong. Former I.R.A. member Anthony McIntyre says the McCartney murder shows they've forgotten that their objections were always supposed to be against "political policing, not policing itself...
...contrast to Sinn Fein's reaction to James McGinley's murder back in 2003 shows how radically party attitudes have changed. When, a day after her son's death, Eileen McGinley asked for help at Sinn Fein's local office, "They wouldn't speak to me," she says. "I got the cold shoulder." She had heard whispers identifying the killer as an I.R.A. man, Bart Fisher. A month later people describing themselves as Fisher's supporters and members of the "republican movement" came to her home to warn the McGinley family off attending court or drawing attention to the case...