THE SDLP said last night that party leader Alasdair McDonnell is now backing calls for his Newry councillors to review the naming of a council playground after an IRA man who was arrested with a weapon used in the Kingsmills massacre.
The public statement of his position on the issue came seven days after a vote by his party’s councillors to keep the Patrick Street playground in Newry named after convicted IRA man Raymond McCreesh, who was linked to the Kingsmills massacre by the Historical Enquiries Team (HET).
Last Monday 20 nationalist councillors, including Sinn Fein, the SDLP and two independents, voted in favour of naming the playground after McCreesh, while five unionist councillors voted against. One SDLP councillor, Frank Feely, abstained.
The playground had first been named after McCreesh in 2001 but the name had been subject to prolonged complaints, equality consultation and debate over the past decade before what was seen as a final decision was taken on the matter last week.
However, Environment Minister Alex Attwood told the BBC on Friday that he had asked SDLP Newry and Mourne councillors to look again at their position on the park’s name.
“In my view the principle should be that, in going forward, we should not in any shape or form be seen to be in any way putting on a pedestal those in state or terror organisations that visited such grief and pain on our people in the past 40 years,” Mr Attwood said.
Last night the News Letter asked the SDLP if Mr Attwood’s comments were his personal views and what the party leader’s position on the issue was.
A party spokeswoman replied: “The views expressed by Alex Attwood reflect party policy and are fully supported by the party leader, Dr Alasdair McDonnell.”
Newry and Armagh UUP MLA Danny Kennedy said Mr McDonnell’s position was “obviously welcome”.
“But it will take some work to undo not only the name of McCreesh Park but also restoring community relations in the area, which have been seriously damaged,” he said.
A former Newry and Mourne councillor, Mr Kennedy thought that reversing the park’s name would be possible, subject to decisions by independent councillors and the mayor. He added: “The pity is that this had to come from the SDLP party leadership; the party members on the ground have not realised the damage they have done.”
However, Newry and Mourne UKIP councillor Henry Reilly did not think the decision could be reversed even if the SDLP councillors carry out a U-turn.
“I am pleased the SDLP has now recognised that they should not be naming children’s playparks after IRA terrorists who inflicted massive hurt on the unionist community and contributed to the ethnic cleansing of vast swathes of land in south Armagh,” he said.
However, he thought it unlikely the decision would be overturned should it come to another council vote. He felt the 14 Sinn Fein councillors would be supported by two independents, giving a majority of 16, while the five unionist councillors and nine SDLP councillors would be left with only 14 votes by comparison.
In 1977 McCreesh was convicted of attempted murder, conspiracy to murder, possession of firearms with intent to endanger life and PIRA membership. He died on hunger strike in 1981. Last year the HET linked him, along with two others, to a string of IRA murders committed with the Armalite he was caught with, including the Kingsmills massacre in 1976. In that attack 10 Protestant workmen were stopped on their way home from work and gunned down by the IRA. An 11th man survived.
l Almost two weeks ago sectarian graffiti was scratched into the plaster of a new memorial to the Kingsmills victims at the scene of their murder. Two workmen were threatened. The PSNI has appealed for information on a silver Volkswagen Bora seen in the area.