A FORMER IRA man has told the BBC Radio Ulster’s Nolan Show that he wished he had killed more British soldiers.
A man calling himself ‘Eamonn’ contacted the show from Derry to explain why he joined the IRA in the aftermath of Bloody Sunday.
It comes after veteran journalist Peter Taylor said in a BBC documentary he would probably have joined the IRA if he’d been a teenager in Derry on Bloody Sunday.
DUP MP Sir Jeffrey Donald condemned the comments and TUV leader Jim Allister said that police must “bring him to justice”.
Police said that they were “aware of comments made on a radio programme this morning and will review the contents to establish if any offences have been disclosed or committed”.
“I was 14 on Bloody Sunday when I watched my fellow Derry people getting murdered and on May 1 1974 when I was 16 I joined the Provisional IRA,” Eamonn told host Stephen Nolan.
“Everything Peter Taylor said happened to me. I was at the march (Bloody Sunday), I saw the baton charge coming at us and I ran, I ran into the back of the Rossville flats and one person on my right hand side was shot and one person on my left hand side was shot. I don’t know if he died or what happened but both were shot.
“That made a big, big impression on me and I know exactly where Peter Taylor was coming from.”
Eamonn said that he started carrying out acts on behalf of the IRA immediately after joining.
“My birthday was April 30 and on May 1 1974 I did my first operation at 16 years of age, I went out there with a gun and I hijacked a car,” the now 61-year-old said.
Eamonn said it was “ok” to hijack the car as the IRA needed to “get revenge”.
He said that he had grown up in a large family that had suffered as a direct result of the inequality in Northern Ireland.
“In my mind I was traumatised by what was seen and done to me, I went out do it and I didn’t do enough as far as I was concerned,” Eamonn said.
“I couldn’t do enough, you have no idea what people like me went through.”
Mr Nolan said that Eamonn had gone out to “maim and destroy”.
“Correct and we couldn’t do enough. Killing and getting rid of the British establishment out of my country,” he said.
Asked if he wished he’d killed more people Eamonn answered “correct” but declined to say if he’d killed anybody himself.
He said that he had never been convicted of IRA membership, when it was put to him that he might be after the broadcast he said “that’s ok, whatever happens, happens”.
“What’s the sense of coming on to your show to give my opinion for you to hand the information over to the police,” Eamonn said.
“The only thing you have belonging to me is a phone number and whatever happens, happens.
“We were raided, battered out of our beds at all hours of the morning, even before I joined the IRA.
“We were raided twice a day at times and this went on for years.
“I saw my mother getting hit with batons, saw my father getting hit with batons and you’re asking me why I’m bitter.
Mr Nolan said that wishing you’d killed more people was “disgusting”.
“What’s disgusting is what I’ve seen on Bloody Sunday, what was imprinted on a 14-year-old child is disgusting.”
He said that the “circumstances I was put through are the reason why I’m bitter”.
Eamonn also said that he was planning a campaign to stop the Clyde Valley Flute Band from marching into the cityside of Derry after they wore Parachute Regiment emblems during the annual Apprentice Boys march last weekend.
After the broadcast TUV leader Mr Allister said that Eamonn had attempted to “rewrite history”.
“The narrative that the British Army’s actions spawned and justified the Provisional IRA is straight out of the Provo manual. No one was forced to be a terrorist,” the North Antrim MLA said.
“Eamonn, if that is his real name, choose to be a terrorist. If he murdered, he choose to murder – consciously and deliberately. His affirmation that the unionist population should be driven out fits with that warped terrorist mindset.
“Having boasted on air of his terrorist exploits (though the full extent of same was not explored), it now behoves the PSNI to bring him to justice and, equally, it behoves the BBC’s Nolan Show to not withhold the information it clearly holds as to the identity of this terrorist.
“I trust there will be no equivocation from either quarter.”
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