Dublin bomb survivor slams ‘disgusting’ parade for Loyalist killer shot dead by SAS

Loyalists brought the Shankill Road to a standstill on Saturday for a parade in honour of UVF killer Brian Robinson. Thousands gathered in the Belfast unionist heartland for the annual Brian Robinson march.

The UVF gunman was shot dead by undercover soldiers on the Crumlin Road in September 1989, minutes after murdering Catholic Paddy McKenna at the Ardoyne shops.

The paramilitary group honours him on the first weekend of September every year with a huge parade organised by its B Company unit.

But Edward O’Neill, who was just five years old when a UVF bomb on Dublin’s Parnell Street killed his father and unborn sister and left him with life-long injuries, said Robinson was a “nasty little thug who like many met their maker at the hands of the SAS”.

No one has ever been convicted over the four no-warning bombs in Dublin and Monaghan on May 17, 1974 which claimed 35 lives, including two unborn babies.

Mr O’Neill, who recently underwent his 64th operation for his injuries, said: “Any loyalist or unionist politician or commentator that was recently raging on social media about the disgraceful scenes at Feile in Belfast and the ‘Up the Ra’ singing who remains quiet about the abhorrent scenes on the Shankill Road honouring a sectarian killer like Brian Robinson should hang their heads in shame.

"They are exactly like the republicans that they claim to despise while trying to maintain some twisted moral superiority over them. They are exactly the same as them. No difference.”

He added: “The reported thousands of bystanders that clapped and cheered this disgusting display should be ashamed of themselves. I very much fear that people on both sides haven't learned any lessons from the past.”