As with far too many other tragedies woven through the tapestry of our still-raw past, the pain of the Loughinisland massacre continues to make its indelible mark 30 years on.
Six people gathered together to do nothing more simple and unthreatening than watch the 1994 World Cup match between the Republic of Ireland and Italy were murdered at 10.10pm that June night.
Barney Green (87), Adrian Rogan (34), Malcolm Jenkinson (53), Daniel McCreanor (59), Patrick O’Hare (35) and Eamon Byrne (35) lost their lives in a hail of bullets that wounded five others in the Heights Bar.
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The depthless hatred that motivated the UVF attack - the pitch-black sectarian hatred needed to target a bar packed with football fans, to put on a mask, to lift a gun, to walk in and shoot people in the back - has had its answer over the years in the dignity and persistence of the families whose lives were torn apart in that instant.
As this newspaper has repeatedly highlighted, their quest for justice continues, not least because Loughinisland is mired in collusion between the UVF and RUC. That police seem to have been more successful at pursuing journalists and documentary-makers investigating the case than they have at securing convictions for the killings is another burden that the families have had to carry.
It was especially fitting that Niall Quinn, a Republic of Ireland soccer hero, joined with the families and community in Loughinisland on Tuesday as they remembered their dead on the 30th anniversary of the attack.
Niall Quinn recalled that when asked about what the Loughinisland killings meant for the chances of peace, he had answered “not in my lifetime”. Three decades on, we can all be glad that he got that wrong
Hundreds attended an anniversary Mass, celebrated outside St Macartan’s church, before walking to the Heights Bar, where prayers were offered.
Quinn spoke movingly to The Irish News about how the ecstasy of the historic 1-0 victory over Italy swiftly became despair when news of events in Co Down emerged: “It went from such joy to sheer disbelief. Suddenly the euphoria we had been experiencing meant nothing.”
Quinn recalled that when asked by a US interviewer about what the Loughinisland killings meant for the chances of peace, he had answered “not in my lifetime”.
Three decades on, we can all be glad that he got that wrong. “I’m very happy that I was not right about that,” reflected Quinn. “But given where everything was at the time - our backdrop to qualifying for the World Cup was Greysteel, then it was Loughinisland. Two sectarian massacres back-to-back...”
The Loughinisland anniversary is an opportunity to reflect on how much progress has been made; peace, not sectarian tit-for-tat, is now our default setting. Yet it is also a reminder of how the search for truth and justice must continue, and cannot be thwarted by cynical British government schemes.
