"Murderers have disgraced the parish as well as themselves" says Cullyhanna priest

A very wet and dark Friday night past saw a large attendance at the third anniversary mass for murder victim, Paul Quinn, held in St Patricks Church, Cullyhanna. The church was close to full with many of the congregation being from the younger generation.

In his homily, Fr Cullen said that Paul was murdered three years ago and that the murderers had also disgraced the parish as well as themselves. Fr Cullen went on to say that punishment beatings and shootings had always been wrong.

After mass over one hundred of the congregation made their way to the Community centre for refreshments provided by the Quinn Support Group and to see a display of press cuttings and a power point display of television programmes relating to the murder and the search for justice.

Amongst those who attended were T.Ds Rory O’Hanlon and Margaret Conlon of Fianna Fail, MLA Dominic Bradley of the SDLP, Councillors Sean McCooey of Fianna Fail and Geraldine Donnelly of the SDLP. Ian Bothwell, well known for his work with the Crossfire Trust attended along with his wife. Members of the Gardai were also there in a personal capacity. Paul Quinn’s parents, Stephen and Breege told the Examiner of their gratitude to all who came to the mass and the get together afterwards. Breege said “The big crowd at Mass gave us great heart and the words of Fr Cullen were so true and were a comfort to us. I also want to thank Fr Cullen for the mass as well as Dervla McCoy for the lovely singing and Martin McAllister for the music”. Stephen expressed the family’s thanks for all the support to date and said, “Seeing the big turn out again this year is very good and people like TDs going out of their way to join us and our friends and neighbours is very touching for us. It is good to meet our friends and we met Michael Lamb, and his wife Deirdre, from New York who is over on a break; Michael has helped us any way he can from over there and we are so thankful to him and all the other good people.” The Quinn family also spoke of the help they get from the Quinn Support group and said Paul McCooey and Brendan had done great work in setting up the media display and thanked Mona McEntee and family for their “usual efficient supply of good food.”

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Quinn Family Condemn Billboard Attacks

The parents of murdered South Armagh man Paul Quinn have expressed their hurt after their new billboard on The Square in Crossmaglen was destroyed by fire in the early hours of Wednesday March 3rd. The billboard highlights the brutal manner in which Paul was killed with the heading “MURDER! Is this the ‘Peace’ you signed up for?” and has been attacked and destroyed four times previously. Numerous other posters have been stolen in the past in the Cullyhanna and Crossmaglen areas.

Chairman for the group, Jim McAllister issued the following statement, “This recent attack on our poster in Crossmaglen is further concrete evidence that a malicious campaign is being waged upon the Quinn Family by Sinn Fein type Republicans. This shameful behavior began in November 2007, after our public meeting in Crossmaglen and has continued ever since. We will not be bullied and we will replace them.” Continuing on Chairman McAllister said “On several occasions we have publicly called upon Sinn Fein representatives to call for an end to this vicious attack on the memory of a young man who was callously beaten to death, but Sinn Fein still stay silent. Their councillors can talk at length about other matters of vandalism and thuggery, but when it comes to attacks on the Quinn support group, they fall strangely silent.” We also hear regularly about “safety groups” who claim to be on top of things in South Armagh but they too are mysteriously silent about vandalism, theft, thuggery and arson when these things are inflicted on the Quinn Support Group.

Breege Quinn, mother of the murdered man said “It seems some people cannot bear to look at things which remind them of how they slaughtered our Paul, well, they will have to look at them. This campaign of destruction against the our posters is clear and incontrovertible evidence of how desperate the murderers are to remove all evidence of our justice campaign. Our efforts to seek justice for Paul will continue and I would like to express our thanks to those who have supported us to date in various ways.

Local SDLP representatives have been in touch with the Quinn family and the family welcome their efforts to help and the statements they have issued.

Paul Quinn was brutally murdered in October 2007 by a group of up to ten men in a cattle shed outside Castleblayney. Paul’s parents Stephen and Breege, have maintained that is was the IRA who kidnapped and murdered their son.

NEW PAUL QUINN SIGN ERECTED IN CROSSMAGLEN SQUARE

The parents of murdered South Armagh man, Paul Quinn, and their support group have erected a new sign just off the square in Crossmaglen. In the past, previous signs erected by the group have been vandalised or completely destroyed. A spokesperson for the group said, “Our new billboard has been constructed using iron girders and box iron, and should be a little bit harder to remove by this anti social element. This isn’t the first time our posters have been attacked.”

“It’s obvious the presence of our posters is annoying a small minority of thugs, perhaps even those responsible for Paul’s brutal death. Our other, smaller posters have been systematically removed also, usually preceding republican held events. That is very alarming and it is a very clear indication that a campaign is being waged by South Armagh Republicans to deface, destroy or remove our posters as quickly as we put them up. We have reported all thefts and vandalisms to the PSNI.”

In addition the parents of Paul Quinn have asked, on numerous occasions, for these pathetic and thuggish acts of vandalism to stop, and have called upon local Sinn Fein councillors to publicly condemn such acts. As yet, there has been no response from Sinn Fein to the Quinn’s request.

Our spokesperson continued, “In addition to the previously stolen posters in Crossmaglen, four similar posters have been stolen in Cullyhanna on or around the 4^th of February.

We will continue to replace our posters until such time as there are left alone”

Quinn Campaign Continues Into New Decade...

Firstly, I'd like to start by wishing you all a very Happy New Year.
As the new decade commences we look forward to making progress in our quest for Justice For Paul.

Later this month, on the 14th of January at 8pm, the Quinn Support Group will hold its first annual AGM. To commemorate the creation of our group, which was created in the Quinn Household in November 2007, the AGM will be held in the Quinn household. We- the Quinn Support Group, came to be after Paul's horrific murder, when friends and family of the Quinn's could not sit idly by as vicious lies and transparent cover ups were peddled to the public to hide the involvement of the IRA in Paul's murder.
On the agenda will be the reallocation of positions, such as Chairperson, Vise Chairperson, Treasurer, and secretary within the Group, campaign finances, campaign initiatives as well as our strategies for the future. Members of the public are welcome.

The campaign's website www.quinnsupport.org is continuously being updated. The 'coverage' section contains many news reports and statements, from the time of Paul's murder to present day. I welcome any comments or suggestions about our campaign, website or anything you wish to say.