A Letter from Ireland
a Chara,
I am sure you are well used to me referring to the Good Friday Agreement. It was signed on behalf of the British and Irish Governments and was subsequently overwhelmingly endorsed North and South. The Agreement is the will of the people and places an obligation on both governments and all parties to abide by it.
It was quite short and well worth a read. As with any international Agreement, large tracts of it are technical in terms of the operation of interlinked institutions and future work programs.
However, within the document are some profound prose. We sometimes hear something new in an old song. A lyric, long passed over, gains new meaning.
So it was when I reread the opening Declaration of Support, the second point states,
“….We must never forget those who have died or been injured, and their families. But we can best honour them through a fresh start, in which we firmly dedicate ourselves to the achievement of reconciliation, tolerance, and mutual trust, and to the protection and vindication of the human rights of all. “
I was immediately struck by the conflict between these fine words and the recent actions of the British Government in relation to the case of the killing of Sean Brown.
Sean Brown, a 61-year-old father of six, was the chairman of the Bellaghy Wolfe Tones GAA club.
On the night of May 12th, 1997, while locking up the club, he was attacked and kidnapped. Driven 10 miles away, he was again beaten before being shot dead. His body was dumped on the roadside beside his burning car.
Since then, his wife Bridie and family have been campaigning for the truth of what happened that night. No one was ever charged in connection with the killing, and over time, it became apparent that there had been no proper police investigation.
In February 2024, an Inquest into the killing reported that more than 25 individuals, including state agents, were linked through intelligence to the killing. Given that this and additional information had been withheld, the coroner ordered that the only way to proceed would be through a full Public Inquiry. The British Government refused.
The family again had to go to court to vindicate their human right to a full investigation.
In April 2025, the Court of Appeal in Belfast ruled that the British Government’s refusal to hold a public inquiry was unlawful. The Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan said that 25 years on that it was “a shocking state of affairs” that there had been no “lawful inquiry into the circumstances” of the murder.”
The British Government continues to refuse to hold a public inquiry into the killing and is again appealing the court’s judgement.
Last week, Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald and First Minister Michelle O’Neill travelled to Bellaghy to support the family of Sean Brown. Simon Harris, the Irish Government Foreign Minister, also called on the British Government to hold a public inquiry into the handling of the investigation.
Despite the obligations of the Good Friday Agreement, the British Government wants everyone to forget the killings by their military and state agents. To continue the cover-up, refuse to acknowledge their role, and so undermine reconciliation. The rights of the Brown family must be vindicated in line with the commitments of the Good Friday Agreement.
The well-crafted words of the Agreement must be met with action. Nothing else will suffice.
Ciarán
Ciarán Quinn is the Sinn Féin Representative to North America
