In a statement issued yesterday, former loyalist prisoner Eddie McIIwaine- a long standing supporter of the peace settlement- has responded to the persistent media harassment he has endured in recent days, and indeed over recent years,
In a statement issued via JWB Consultancy, it was said on his behalf:
“Mr McIlwaine has paid his debt to society having served a lengthy period of imprisonment. Subsequent to his release he has not come to the attention of the authorities and has made a positive contribution to community life in his local area. Despite this positive contribution, he was subjected to a number of very serious republican murder attempt, and the persistent invasion into Mr McIlwaine’s privacy- without any public interest justification or ‘new’ reporting- potentially endangers his life.
“He has been, and continues to be, a strong supporter of peace and has over many decades used his lived experience as a younger man to influence and guide the next generation of young men down a different and more productive path by which to pursue political objectives in the context of a post-conflict Northern Ireland.
“The Belfast Agreement recognised the political dimension to the conflict, and it is a historical fact that young men from loyalist communities played a role in responding to the IRA’s terrorist campaign. In 1994, loyalist organisations expressed ‘abject and true remorse’ to all innocent victims. Mr McIlwaine as a loyalist participant in the conflict fully endorsed this position.
“Whilst former IRA prisoners have been legitimised and provided pathways into civic and political life, loyalist ex-prisoners have not been afforded the same treatment.
“Instead, as the recent harassment of Mr McIlwaine demonstrates, loyalism has been consistently demonised with ex-prisoners from that community denied the opportunity to move on with their post-conflict lives.
“There are serious questions for elements of the media as to the disparity between how they treat ex IRA prisoners in comparison to former loyalist prisoners.
“Mr McIlwaine is entitled to celebrate his culture and in his own dignified manner to remember those from the loyalist community who- like him- found themselves, in defence of their community, embroiled within a conflict.
“Loyalism will no longer sit back and allow history to be re-written and for republicans to be legitimised whilst loyalists are demonised. That, it is suspected, will not find favour with much of the media, but that only highlights the very nature of the problem.
“Mr McIlwaine reaffirms his commitment to peace, endorses the loyalist position set out in 1994 in regards all innocent victims, and simply wishes to get on with his life as a private citizen.”
Whilst, as expected the statement has irked sections of the mainstream media and the republican dominated world of twitter, it has been widely welcome in working class loyalist communties, with many expressing support for loyalism no longer allowing itself to be cannon-fodder for easy headlines that media outlets (wrongly) believe will go unchallenged.