Trio who confronted terrorists to take part in conference

Trio who confronted terrorists to take part in conference

27 May 2015

THREE people who went toe-to-toe with Northern Ireland’s terrorist groups will come together for the first time in a special conference in Strangford next week.

Glebe House, a peace centre set up by the Harmony Community Trust 40 years ago, will host a special panel discussion looking at the prospects of reconciliation in Northern Ireland.

Taking part will be Ann Travers, Mairia Cahill and Raymond McCord, who have all suffered at the hands of terrorist groups, and chairing the event will be Belfast-based journalist, Malachi O’Doherty.

The event, entitled Steps to Reconciliation, is part of a series of events to mark the 40th anniversary of Glebe House which has long been bringing together groups of young people from across the divide and around the world, to work and interact with each other.

Ann Traver’s sister, Mary, was murdered in an IRA ambush in April, 1984. Their father was the magistrate, Tom Travers, and while he was the principal target, who was shot six times, investigations showed the killers intended to murder the whole family.

Now in her mid 40s and living in Dublin, Ann Travers has become a public figure because of her vocal opposition to the appointment of IRA terrorist Mary McArdle, as a special adviser to Sinn Fein culture minister Caral Ni Chuilin. Mary McArdle was convicted of the murder of Mary Travers.

Mairia Cahill hit the headlines when she waived anonymity to reveal she had been raped by a prominent IRA member and then subjected to an ‘inquiry’ by senior members of the terrorist group.

After making a complaint against the IRA man, along with two other anonymous victims, the case collapsed when the women withdrew their evidence following four years.

Last week, Northern Ireland’s Director of Public Prosecutions, Barry McGrory QC, apologised to Mairia Cahill, and the other victims, over the handling of her rape case following the publication of an independent review of the handling of the three alleged rape cases.

Raymond McCord is a well known victims rights campaigner whose son was killed by the UVF in 1997. He is an outspoken critic of the loyalist paramilitary group.

Following his son’s murder he was later able to reveal via the first Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman, Dame Nuala O’Loan, that a number of figures connected to his son’s murder were special branch agents.

The conference will take place on Wednesday, June 3, getting underway at 10.30am. Lunch will be served followed by further discussion in the afternoon which will be opened up to the audience.