John McCain to Sinn Fein: "Enough is enough!"

Utv reports on John McCain's St. Patrick's Day address to the America Ireland Fund dinner. He showed the IRA and Sinn Fein no mercy.

McCain took a clear and brutal swipe at Sinn Fein, warning that enough was enough."Anyone, Irish, American or British who desires and works for the success of peace, freedom and justice must denounce in the strongest possible terms not only the cowards who murdered Robert McCartney but the IRA itself and any political organisation that would associate with them," he said."Nor should they tolerate the veiled threat to the McCartney sisters or to anyone else with the courage and decency to speak the truth about the IRA."
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He said the failure of peace talks, followed by the Northern Bank robbery and Mr McCartney`s murder had unleashed great courage at grass roots level, and commended the McCartney sisters for bravely speaking out loud what everyone has known for years, that it is time for change.
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Senator McCain said Sinn Fein was facing a historic choice and that there had been enough endless debate about its ties to the IRA.It is not enough for them to sever ties to the IRA, he said, they must join the call for them to disarm, demobilise and disband once and for all."Stealing from banks and slaying men in the streets to settle personal grievances are not the acts of freedom fighters," he added."No one can honestly claim today that the IRA is anything better than an organised crime syndicate that steals and murders to serve members personal interests."

Read the whole thing here.

Wow! Great stuff. I see where some are saying that the McCartney affair will die soon. It won't. A real sea-change has taken place in Irish-America.

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Elaine Monaghan writes in today's Times:

America refuses to buy the Adams defence

How US politicians and the media have turned on Sinn Fein during the remarkable visit of the McCartney sisters

Irish American drums beat out their nostalgia for the Emerald Isle as loud as ever this St Patrick's Day but six women emissaries from Catholic Belfast quietly sounded the death knell for any romantic notions about the IRA.

Read the whole thing here.

Things are turning faster than anyone in Ireland understood. Gerry Adams is being swept along by powerful currents that he cannot control and that he bever suspected a few short weeks ago. The IRA's days are numbered, and if Gerry is unable to cast them off, so are his as an effective voice in Irish politics.