the street in Londonderry in November 1973. The gunman was targeting an army foot patrol. She was the second youngest of five children and the sister of an SDLP councillor.
The Provisional IRA, whose leaders in the city at the time included Martin McGuinness, Sinn Fein’s chief negotiator, blamed the Army and said it had shot a soldier dead in revenge. The IRA statement at the time said: “The people of Derry are aware that we have admitted responsibility for our actions even at times when mistakes were made by us and civilians injured.
“We say categorically that the shooting of young Kathleen Feeney was the work of the British Army and not of the Republican movement.”
But yesterday, in a statement released to the Derry Journal, the Provisionals said: “The IRA accepts responsibility for the death of Kathleen Feeney. Our failure to publicly accept responsibility for her death until now has only added to the hurt and pain of the Feeney family.
“The leadership wish to apologise unreservedly to the Feeney family for the death of Kathleen and for all the grief that our actions have caused to them.” […]
Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein president, said: “At least the IRA is prepared to stand up and take responsibility for something that they did.”
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