Quinn Brothers' Killings - Reaction

Reaction

The M.P. for the area, Dr. Ian Paisley, visited the site of the attack and described the murders as "diabolical", "repugnant" and it "stained Protestantism".However in an interview with ITN he stated that "The IRA have carried out worse murders than we had in Ballymoney over and over again".

Then British Prime Minister Tony Blair denounced the attack as "an act of barbarism".

Reaction from America was also noted as United States President Bill Clinton extended the condolences of the American people to the Quinn family.

Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy condemned the killings and stated "The Orange Order must recognize that its refusal to abide by the decision of the Parades Commission led to the murder of the Quinn boys".

New York mayor Rudy Giuliani extended sympathy to the family from the city of New York.

Representatives of other groups from all sides of the constitutional issue in Northern Ireland also condemned the killings.

The then Chelsea F.C. chairman, Ken Bates, offered a £100,000 reward for information leading to a conviction for the attackers.

At the brothers' Requiem Mass, the bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Down and Connor, Dr. Walsh observed that "For all too long the airwaves and the printed page have been saturated with noises - strident, harsh, discordant noises - carrying words of hatred, of incitement, of recrimination, words not found in the vocabulary of Christianity. But the time for words is over. It's now time for silence, a silence in which we will hear the voice of God."

Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern attended a memorial mass in Dublin for the children.

The Progressive Unionist Party which has political links to the UVF,made no comment that the UVF was implicated in the attack.

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