Such public criticism of IRA in republican south Armagh is u nprecedented, writes Gerry Moriarty.
A crowd, which attended a Paul Quinn Support Group meeting in Cullyhanna, has heard calls for an end to the local IRA structure, which was portrayed as exerting a brutal and authoritarian control in south Armagh.
Sinn Féin leaders insist the IRA was not implicated in the beating to death of 21-year-old Paul Quinn from Cullyhanna in Co Monaghan last month. But speakers at the meeting on Wednesday night made clear they were convinced that local IRA members were involved.
Yesterday the Quinn group called for the dismantling of the local "murder machine", adding that it had no wish to use the issue to bring down the powersharing Northern Executive and Assembly. It said its acknowledgment that the killing was not sanctioned at any IRA "organisational level" should ensure the stability of Stormont and in turn Sinn Féin should concede IRA members were involved in the murder.
Paul Quinn's father Stephen thanked the crowd of more than 200 in Cullyhanna Community Centre for attending. "We want justice and you are helping us fight for that justice," he said.
Paul Quinn's mother Briege spoke with quiet but intense feeling. A number of times during the meeting she quietly sobbed. At the outset she stressed: "I want to plead again and again for no retaliation for Paul's death. Please don't break windows or intimidate people because you are hurting them but you are also hurting us too. We have been hurt enough. Please let the PSNI and the Garda do the work. We want justice for Paul through the courts and no other way." One minute's silence was observed.
Paul's brother James said he recalled signs that appeared on local roads during the hunger strikes stating that those in "Long Kesh were not criminals".
"Well, my brother is not a criminal. He hadn't 2p. They said there was a criminal fight or a feud. But when you have a dozen cowards in boiler suits and bala-clavas with iron bars who killed a fellow with 2p in his pocket - what feud was that? There was no feud, just brutality and murder."
Local man Seamus Bellew said a "well-organised gang" was behind the murder, which was "so sure of their grip on our community - yes, our community - that they think they can get away with murder".
"All this business about Gerry Adams or [local Sinn Féin MP] Conor Murphy saying, 'co-operate with the police'. They [the killers] are laughing at that. Gerry Adams doesn't tell them what to do: around here they tell him. They think, 'keep our heads down for another few weeks then all this will be forgotten, and it will be back to business as usual'. You know, the terrible thing is they are probably right."
And, obviously referring to the local IRA, he added, "they have never been challenged by the whole community. They see no reason why things should be different now. This business about helping the police is all right up in Stormont but not around here."
Mr Bellew said two things were necessary to achieve justice. First, people must come forward to the police, not just with information, but with evidence.
"The other thing is this. The whole community must show that things have changed, that the old deal is gone, that solidarity against the Brits won't save them when they turn on one of our own. Remember, we owe them nothing, because in 30 long years the Brits did many bad things but they never did anything like this."
Gerry McMahon complained about a high level of so-called punishment beatings in the area. "We need to ensure that our young people are not going to be intimidated anymore, and that they are going to be looked after by us - if we can and if they want - to ensure that they can live in peace, and keep their heads up."
Another south Armagh man, who later said he did not want to be named publicly, also spoke about 10 punishment beatings that happened in the broad south Armagh area over recent years. He spoke about people who could never work again they were so badly beaten. He spoke about one young man who was beaten "one kick from death, one more kick and they were gone".
"There is no call for this in south Armagh," he added. And also pretty obviously referring to the local IRA he said, "the people of south Armagh has stood along with these people for the past 35 or 40 years, through the civil rights movement, through the whole struggle. Nobody turned on them; everybody gave them the support that they needed, and this is what we get: turning around and kicking and killing their own people. It's not nationalism; it's not republicanism: it is fascism, it is Stalinism."
The chairman of the group, Jim McAllister, who was a local Sinn Féin leader before becoming disaffected from the leadership, said he "felt ashamed" for not speaking up against such incidents. There were people who felt similarly, he knew. "If people had spoken up much sooner than now maybe we could have saved the life of Paul Quinn. But we are speaking up now, and that is very important," he added.
There were no Sinn Féin representatives in the hall. Local SDLP Assembly member Dominic Bradley, pledging his support, repeated his comment that the people who killed Paul Quinn were "no ad hoc" group.
He said Sinn Féin's attempt to portray the murder as part of a criminal feud was an attempt to blacken Paul Quinn. "But I think that lie has been exposed for what it was."
Another speaker said campaigners were portrayed as "somehow enemies of the peace process. I want to make this very clear right now that nobody in the Quinn family and support group has the slightest interest in bringing down Stormont, or anything else, except murder. We are not enemies of anyone or anything, except those who murdered Paul, and those who want to provide cover for his killers."
Yesterday the Quinn support group issued a statement, which it said would permit Sinn Féin "to retreat from its increasingly ridiculous and isolated position on the Paul Quinn murder without further loss of face for the sake of the peace process. We say to the governments and to the DUP, let Sinn Féin continue in government, but let them tell the truth. Let us simply all agree that the killing was not sanctioned at any organisational level which should have political consequences at Stormont. Let us also agree that we have a murder machine in our community and it must be dismantled for ever."