Maze escape glorification by Gerry Kelly ‘warped’: Erskine

Ms Erskine was commenting after Gerry Kelly marked the 39th anniversary of the Maze escape – during which one prison officer was stabbed and died, while another suffered a gunshot wound to the head – by tweeting that his thoughts are with IRA members who “lost their lives” during the conflict.

Mr Kelly was one of 38 republicans who managed to break out of the high security prison in September 1983 – initially hidden in a food lorry but forced to flee on foot when the main gate was blocked. Fifteen were captured almost immediately and another four within 48 hours.

In a Twitter message on Sunday, Mr Kelly, who now sits on the NI Policing Board, said: “39 yrs ago 38 political prisoners escaped from the ‘most secure prison in Europe.’ My thoughts today are with those who lost their lives on active service in the conflict and those who died of natural causes in the years since.”

Ms Erskine said: “Gerry Kelly’s glorification of the Maze escape goes to the heart of Sinn Fein’s warped world view. He revels in an event that saw one Prison Officer stabbed and another shot in the head.

“Sinn Fein have a complete disregard for the victims of IRA terrorism, instead focusing only on terrorists who were on ‘active service’ Their strategy is simply to continue repeating such offensive and hate-filled propaganda in the hope that criticism will become more muted each time.

“We have witnessed that only a few weeks ago with Michelle O’Neill’s claim that there was no alternative to IRA terrorism. There is an absolute responsibility on everyone in our society to ensure such attempts are not successful.”

Ms Erskine added: “Sinn Fein have no interest in building a shared future. Instead this is the reality of their vision for a ‘new Ireland’. We will continue to... challenge every attempt to normalise such a warped vision.”

The son of a prison officer shot and fatally wounded by the IRA has also expressed concern at Gerry Kelly’s Maze breakout comments.

Austin Stack, whose father Brian was shot in the head as he left an amateur boxing contest in Dublin in March 1983, said his own thoughts were with those who “lost loved ones at the hands of terrorists”.

Mr Stack tweeted: “This is a deliberate & calculating tweet which neglects to mention the murder of a Prison Officer in the escape.

“My thoughts are with those who suffered & lost loved ones at the hand of terrorists over the years & those who died since without getting justice #hypocrisy.”

In response to similar complaints about Mr Kelly around the time of the escape anniversary in 2020, Justice Minister Naomi Long sought legal advice on whether Mr Kelly had breached the NI Policing Board’s code of conduct, but later said the MLA “did not explicitly demonstrate a non-commitment to non-violence and exclusively peaceful and democratic means or otherwise suggest that there would be grounds to consider statutory removal”.

Sinn Fein was invited to comment.