Empty Republican platitudes

This is copied from the BBC Northern Ireland news website of today (3/3/25).

The repudiation of the IRA campaign of murder and slaughter by this man is self-extolling and falls far short of true Biblical repentance.

He only changed his views when it became possible that he would become a victim of the terrorism that he had practised on others!

To say that the IRA’s campaign of slaughter ‘was a total waste, absolute total waste of energy, of life, of resources’ is very far removed for a true acknowledgment before God, that he is guilty of heinous crimes deserving of the wrath of God!

Such is the standard ‘expressions of sorrow’ offered by Irish Republicans. Regularly you have evidence of this hypocrisy and affected piety and posturing, as was the recent case of the ‘First Minister’, Michelle O’Neill’s extolling of IRA murderer, Brendan McFarlane.

See:—

Sinn Féin defends tributes to IRA man

All that grows and sprouts from the fallacious roots of Romanism is false and fraudulent!  The BBC and others of that ilk, may be ready to ‘canonise’ this murderer, but that is not how heaven sees his kind!

The Scripture states the matter well.

“That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?” Job 20:5.

On the other hand, “He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; he shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure. Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off,” Isaiah 33:15-17.

Such will never be the portion of the ‘semi-repentant’!

Sincerely in Christ’s name,

Ivan Foster


I was in the IRA but then they sentenced me to death

Brendan Hughes said the Northern Ireland conflict was a “total waste” of life

Brendan Hughes – known as ‘The Dark’!

A former IRA leader who plotted bank robberies and jail breaks has told the BBC that being condemned to die made him realise what the group’s victims had gone through.

Brendan Hughes, who is originally from County Tyrone, said he believes the IRA intended to make him one of the Disappeared – killing him and burying him in a secret grave.

Mr Hughes described the practice as “a war crime” that “should never have happened”.

In a wide-ranging interview, the former IRA leader told BBC Spotlight that the Northern Ireland conflict was a “total waste” of life.

Hughes said the IRA passed a death sentence on him in 1975 after he carried out an armed robbery for personal gain.

“Suddenly you realise the position that other people were in, the position that you had been putting people in all these years, that there was a threat over their very existence.

“I didn’t want to be disappeared. I never agreed with that.

“The disappearing of people is a war crime. It should never have happened.”

The Disappeared are those who were abducted, murdered and secretly buried by republicans during Northern Ireland’s Troubles.

Despite extensive searches, the bodies of four of the victims have yet to be found.

Brendan Hughes was involved in several robberies on behalf of the IRA in the early 1970s

Hughes, who said he was never involved in Disappeared cases, survived the assassination attempt on him.

He tried to steal more money to buy his way out of the death sentence but was captured by Gardaí (Irish police) and jailed for 20 years.

Speaking to Spotlight, he detailed the planning of a helicopter hijacking which saw three republican prisoners escape from Mountjoy Prison in the Republic of Ireland in 1973.

However, he insists he was not glorifying violence by taking part in the two-part film, called ‘Those Who Want Me Dead’.

“I’m telling my story to tell people who I am, what I am and where I am today, and where I am today, I would not do any of those things,” he said.

“I’m not prepared to lift one finger in a violent way ever again. Never will.

“I see war as the most futile and destructive thing that man ever created.”

Hughes, who is in his late 70s, offered an apology to those impacted by his actions during the Troubles.

He said he had come to realise the long-term implications he had on the lives of “ordinary, innocent and decent people.”

Hughes said he is prepared to talk about the conflict “in the right forum”

The former IRA leader said he wanted to engage with a truth commission to give victims answers about the 30-year conflict in Northern Ireland.

“It wasn’t worth leaving one family without a father or a brother or a sister.

“It was a total waste, absolute total waste of energy, of life, of resources,” he said.

His interview for Spotlight comes amid government efforts to repeal the controversial Legacy Act.

Introduced by the previous Conservative government, the legislation introduced a ban on inquests and civil actions related to incidents during the conflict in Northern Ireland.

It also sought to offer a conditional amnesty for people suspected of Troubles-related crimes in exchange for co-operating with a new Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR).

The High Court in Belfast later ruled parts of the legislation, including such an amnesty, would be in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Legacy Act has been criticised by victims groups and political parties in Northern Ireland.

Hughes said he would engage with such a body – if there were no repercussions for doing so.

“I’m prepared to sit down with anyone, anytime, anywhere and talk about this – in the right forum.

“If the victims say that’s the forum and there’s no repercussions for anyone for doing this, that’s where I want to be.

“The first requisition for reconciliation is truth,” he said.

A number of victims’ groups and political parties in Northern Ireland have objected to the Legacy Act.

They argue the act denies justice to those bereaved and injured during the Troubles, with some calling for the ICRIR to be scrapped.

The government previously said the commission would continue operating, but new legislation would be brought forward to “reform and strengthen” the ICRIR’s “independence, powers and accountability”.