SINN FÉIN is standing by the appointment of a convicted killer as special adviser to one of its Ministers at Stormont despite a storm of criticism.
Mary McArdle will work alongside Carál Ní Chuilín, the new Minister for Culture, Arts and Leisure.
Ms McArdle (46) was convicted of the murder of Mary Travers (22) in 1984.
Ms Travers was shot dead as she left Mass in an IRA ambush in which her father Tom Travers, a magistrate, was also shot.
He was hit six times in the gun attack, but survived.
The Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure has confirmed the appointment but declined to comment further, referring all inquiries to Sinn Féin on the basis that Ms McArdle’s was a “political appointment”.
In a series of media interviews yesterday, Ann Travers, sister of the murder victim, criticised the appointment and called for it to be reversed.
“I am absolutely horrified that [Ms McArdle] has been given such a position,” she said.
“I think it’s really wrong and I think she should stand down.”
Ms McArdle was 19 at the time of the murder of Ms Travers in April 1984.
She was arrested a short distance away from the murder scene on the Malone Road in south Belfast. She was found with two handguns, hidden in surgical stockings, and a grey wig.
She was convicted two years later of the murder of Ms Travers and attempted murder of her father and subsequently freed under the prisoner release scheme following the Belfast Agreement.
Mr Travers died in December 2009.
Ms McArdle is one of a number of former prisoners who are now Sinn Féin elected representatives or political staffers at Stormont.
There was trenchant criticism of the appointment by Assembly members, including Alban Maginness of the SDLP, Traditional Unionist Voice leader Jim Allister and Robin Swann of the Ulster Unionists.
However, Sinn Féin’s Gerry Kelly hit back, claiming former prisoners were central to the peace process and play a positive role.
“Almost half our Assembly team are former political prisoners,” Mr Kelly said.
“Many more ex-prisoners have played critical and positive roles in bringing the political process to where it is now and will continue to do so.”
But Ms Travers said: “While we all want to move forward and have peace in Northern Ireland, we’re still all allowed to grieve and we should never be asked to stop grieving or forget about our loved ones who were murdered.”
She added: “We’re not allowed to move on because every time we want to move on, Sinn Féin turn the knife a little bit more and we’re asked to accept a little bit more from them.”
North Antrim Assembly member Robin Swann said the appointment was “a calculated insult to victims” and a “retrograde step”.
“As a 19-year-old, Mary McArdle chose to join a terrorist organisation and participate in the murder of another young woman, Mary Travers, as she left a place of worship with her family,” he said.
“The post of special adviser . . . needs to be filled by someone who can command respect, confidence and trust from throughout the community.”
Traditional Unionist Voice leader Jim Allister said: “The news will be yet another insult to the Travers family and it is a stain on the character of our province that such an appointment should be made.”
SDLP North Belfast member Alban Maginness said the appointment was “grossly inappropriate”.