The second anniversary mass for murder victim Paul Quinn was held in St Patrick’s Cullyhanna on Friday evening past. Paul Quinn was murdered on October the 20th, 2007 after being lured to a cattle shed near Oram in Co. Monaghan where he was battered to death by a gang of masked men. The family have consistently blamed the IRA for his murder.
Paul Quinn’s parents, Stephen and Breege, told 'The Paul Quinn Blog' that they were very pleased to see such a large turn out to the mass and they expressed their thanks to Fr McGuckian for the mass and his homily in which he said “It is written large in all the Gospels, in the parables and sermons of Jesus, ‘Treat others as you would like them to treat you.’ That’s the way Jesus wants us to be, side by side and face to face with masks removed.” They also thanked Martin McAllister and Dervla McCoy for ‘the beautiful music and singing and thanked ‘all those who came to mass in Paul’s memory.’
After mass, refreshments were served in Cullyhanna Community centre where an exhibition of newspaper clippings, quotations from politicians and police along with a power point presentation of T.V programmes were shown. At least 200 people came to the community centre where the evening was informal without any speeches and with people mingling together, discussing the murder and the future they long for, ‘without masks.’ Among the attendance were Dr. Rory O’Hanlon, F.F. T.D Cavan Monaghan, Margret Conlon FF TD Cavan Monaghan, Seymour Crawford, F.G. T.D. Cavan Monaghan, Dominic Bradley , MLA, Newry and Armagh and Geraldine Donnelly, Councillor, N&M.D.C. Councillors Sean McCooey and Brendan Hughes from Castleblaney and Padraig McNally Carrickmacross. Also Liz McManus, T.D. Labour, along with Alasdair McDonnell, M.P. SDLP contacted the family earlier in the evening as they were unable to attend.
Mr and Mrs Quinn also thanked the Quinn Support Group for their work in setting up the media display ‘in particular Paul McCooey for all his work on the printed materials and the Audio Visual presentation.’ They also thanked Mona McEntee for her catering, described as ‘excellent as always.’
Paul’s parents finished by telling 'The Paul Quinn Blog' that ‘Our life is now a search for justice and we will continue that search. Our recent meeting with Judith Gillespie, deputy chief constable of the PSNI and our regular meetings with the Gardai convince us that justice will prevail and, as always, we ask people to remember that any little snippet of news about the day of the murder, or after, may hold the key the Gardai need so please come forward even if you think it may be unimportant, let the police decide that.’
