Albert, 15, was a petty criminal. So he was shot

Eileen Fisher describes life in an area where 'justice' comes rough

The Guardian

March 10, 2005

Albert Maguire was a bit of a tearaway. He shoplifted, stole cars and loitered on street corners looking for trouble. Sometimes he hijacked buses.

His long-suffering mother, Maura, was at a loss about what to do with him. She was worried that his younger siblings would follow in his footsteps.

Mrs Maguire knew what could happen to boys like Albert. The IRA disapproved of petty criminals and car thieves - or "hoods" as they were known locally. Some of her son's friends had already been beaten or kneecapped (shot through the knees) and she was concerned that Albert would be next.

He had been arrested a few times by the RUC and cautioned, but it did not seem to alter his behaviour.

Three days before his 15th birthday, Albert burgled a house in the street next to where he lived and jumped out of a window with a video recorder. He did not realise someone in the house had seen him and knew who he was.

Like many residents on the staunchly republican estate, the person who had been robbed took his grievance to Sinn Féin rather than the police. He gave them Albert's name and address, told them what had happened, and asked them to get the IRA to sort the boy out.

Two days later three masked men appeared at the foot of Albert's bed in the middle of the night and warned him to get into line, or else.

Albert stayed out of trouble for a while, but not for long. Six months later, after another IRA warning and a brutal beating, he was kneecapped.

There have been hundreds of stories similar to this over the years since the Troubles began in Northern Ireland. Anyone who has lived in a hardline republican area, knows an Albert.

It is common knowledge that the IRA has been "policing" its heartlands for years. The practice evolved partly out of the historic and deep-rooted mistrust nationalists and republicans have of the police - the Police Service of Northern Ireland (formerly the RUC) is still more than 80% protestant.

Punishment beatings and shootings have remained regular occurrences despite the IRA ceasefires. They have, by and large, been tolerated (or as in the case of Albert) even instigated by local people.

But many people in republican areas are disgusted by punishments. Over the years - and probably more so since the ceasefires - there have been people who quietly questioned the IRA's assertion that it is there to dole out "justice" to people within their own communities.

In some cases, the mothers of boys maimed by punishment shootings have complained to the IRA or, in their grief and anger, screamed loudly in the street about the injustice.

But the voices of these women have been nothing compared to those of the sisters of Robert McCartney. This is a family with unquestioned republican credentials. A family openly supportive of Sinn Féin.

While their brother's murder was not a punishment beating as such, it has inadvertently given a voice to the families of victims too afraid to speak up in the past.

Until now, no matter how angry a person was about the IRA's behaviour, it would have been unthinkable in these close-knit communities to openly challenge its authority.

Out of loyalty or fear of retaliation - or both - people have traditionally kept their opinions to themselves.

The fearlessness of the McCartney sisters - and their demand that justice be done in a court room rather than by a gun - may well, as some observers suggest, be a tide-turning moment.

But we will only know for sure if the IRA's stranglehold has been broken after the media spotlight dims and individual families are left to fight on alone.

· All names, including the author's, have been changed

URL:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1434141,00.html