Northern Ireland

Relatives meet Simon Coveney over British government legacy proposals

By Connla Young

The 90-year-old mother of a Catholic teenager killed by the UDA has described the British government’s legacy proposals as “callous and cruel”.

Maureen Rafferty was speaking after meeting Irish government minister Simon Coveney in Belfast yesterday.

Her 14-year son Philip was abducted and shot dead by the UDA 50 years ago next month.

Others who took part in the meeting included Mark Kelly, whose 12-year-old sister Carol Ann Kelly was shot dead by a plastic bullet fired by a British soldier in Twinbrook, on the outskirts of west Belfast in May 1981.

Mark Thompson RFJ left on the way into meet Simon Coveney with some of the victims families Maureen Rafferty and Mark Kelly.picture by Hugh Russell.
Mark Thompson RFJ left on the way into meet Simon Coveney with some of the victims families Maureen Rafferty and Mark Kelly.picture by Hugh Russell. Mark Thompson RFJ left on the way into meet Simon Coveney with some of the victims families Maureen Rafferty and Mark Kelly.picture by Hugh Russell.

Phyllis Keeley, whose father Eugene Dalton was killed by an IRA bomb in Derry in 1988, was also at the meeting.

Speaking after the meeting Ms Rafferty said “I am 90 and if the British government continue with hat they are doing with this bill it will take years and I am not going to see justice, truth and accountability,” she said.

“The bill is callous and cruel and is denying all families truth and justice.”

Simon Coveney speaks to political correspondent John Manley about the Legacy Bill: