Sinn Fein's grotesque mass-murderer plates

Many people have decorated plates in their homes, perhaps a holiday scene or a plate with a landscape or a picture of pet animal.

They can be quite attractive but you can always rely on Sinn Fein to produce something that is crass and grotesque., a decorative plate to honour two mass-murderers!

The Burns & Moley Sinn Fein Cumann has produced a special 30th anniversary commemorative plate which can be purchased for £35.

Full details are available on the Newry & Armagh Sinn Fein facebook page.

The commemorative plates feature portraits of the two IRA men with an armed and masked IRA man on each side with a raised revolver.

The two IRA men, Volunteer Brendan Burns and Volunteer Brendan Moley died on 29 February 1988 when a bomb intended for an attack on the British Army exploded prematurely in a hayshed at Crossmaglen.

Those who were intent on causing death and destruction died as a result of their own bomb.

There is an IRA memorial for the two men, there is an annual commemoration at the memorial, organised by Sinn Fein.  In the past this has had prominent Sinn Fein speakers such as Conor Murphy in 2002, Bairbre de Brun MEP in 2004, Martin Ferris in 2013 and Gerry Adams in 2015.

IRA memorial at Donaldson's Road, Creggan

But that is not enough for Sinn Fein and so for the 30th anniversary they have taken the opportunity for some money-making merchandise with a special Burns and Moley commemorative plate.

So who were the two IRA men that Sinn Fein commemorate and what do we know about them, apart from the fact that they were killed by their own bomb?

As regards Brendan Burns there was an account of his IRA career in the Irish Times (1 March 2005):

Brendan Burns was one of the most effective IRA operatives of the entire conflict.  but it's not at all clear that he ever put himself in personal danger, except from his own bombs.

His 10-year career, indeed, is emblematic of the gap between the IRA's heroic self-image and its great skill in inflicting more suffering than it endured.  What Brendan Burns was very good at was placing bombs on roadsides and getting the hell out of there before they exploded.

He is widely believed to have planted the IRA bombs that killed 18 British soldiers at Warrenpoint in 1979 and five soldiers at Camlough two years later.  Most of those who died in these explosions were in their late teens or early twenties.

Mass murder of British soldiers by the IRA at Narrow-water

There can be no doubt that Burns and Moley were guilty of mass murder because it was admitted in the Sinn Fein newspaper An Phoblacht and the republican journal IRIS (Issue 18 - Autumn 1993).

The IRIS article was headed 'A Tribute to the Two Brendans' and it described their role in a number of IRA killings including the murder of two young British soldiers near Crossmaglen on 9 July 1986.  One of the murdered soldiers, Carl Davis, was married with one child and his wife was expecting a second child.  The other soldier was Mitchell Robert Bertram.

Brendan Burns and Brendan Moley were mass murderers.  

So if you are a republican in South Armagh you can join a Sinn Fein cumann named after two mass murderers, you can attend an annual commemoration in honour of two mass murderers and now you can have a tribute to two mass murderers hanging in your living room or sitting on your mantelpiece!

And some people suggest that Sinn Fein has changed since Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle O'Neill took over the leadership ... well think again!