Background
The Quinn family consisting of mother Chrissie and sons Richard, Mark and Jason lived in the Carnany estate in the predominately Protestant town of Ballymoney.The family was of a mixed religious background.Mother Chrissie was Roman Catholic who herself was from a mixed background and the boys father Jim Dillon was Catholic.After separating from her estranged husband Chrissie reared the boys as Protestant "to avoid the hassle".Chrissie lived with her Protestant partner Raymond Craig in Carnany which although had a few Catholic residents it was mostly Protestant reflecting the general religious make up of Ballymoney itself.The boys aged 9, 10 and 11 attended a local state school and on the evening before their deaths had been helping to build the estate's Eleventh Night loyalist bonfire.A fourth brother, Lee, was staying with his grandmother in Rasharkin at the time of the attack.
The murders had taken place at the height of the stand-off over the Orange Order march at Drumcree creating a tense atmosphere in various towns across Northern Ireland.A year previously in Ballymoney an off duty Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officer, Gregory Taylor, was beaten to death by a group of loyalist bandsmen.The killing followed a row about the RUC's position after loyal order marches had been banned from the nearby nationalist village of Dunloy.In the weeks before the fatal attack the children's mother Chrissie had expressed fear that she wasn't welcome in the area and there was a possibility the family home may be attacked by loyalists. The Ballymoney Times a local newspaper in the town, reported a story the week of the deaths stating a resident of the Carnany estate called in and was concerned about tension in the area adding something serious might happen "unless Catholic residents were left alone".Various members of Chrissie's family had lived in Carnany but due to several incidents only Chrissie and her sons remained.The family had only been living in the home which was previously lived in by the boy's aunt, for six days before the attack.
Read more about this topic: Quinn Brothers' Killings
Famous quotes containing the word background:
“Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment; that background which the painter may not daub, be he master or bungler, and which, however awkward a figure we may have made in the foreground, remains ever our inviolable asylum, where no indignity can assail, no personality can disturb us.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“In the true sense one’s native land, with its background of tradition, early impressions, reminiscences and other things dear to one, is not enough to make sensitive human beings feel at home.”
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940)
“I had many problems in my conduct of the office being contrasted with President Kennedy’s conduct in the office, with my manner of dealing with things and his manner, with my accent and his accent, with my background and his background. He was a great public hero, and anything I did that someone didn’t approve of, they would always feel that President Kennedy wouldn’t have done that.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)