Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland

by Patrick Radden Keefe

The former Derry gunman Martin McGuinness, who had won a seat in the Northern Ireland Assembly elections in 1982, solemnly announced that, “after some discussion, the IRA decided that shooting a young lad in the leg, leaving him crippled for life, is not a just and fair punishment.” Instead, McGuinness continued, “we want to take a more socially involved, preventative approach.” Some nationalists from the SDLP likened Sinn Féin’s abrupt rebranding as a well-meaning troupe of community activists to the Virgin Birth.

“There was nothing to stop us employing the best actor we could find,” one news producer said in 1990 when asked about Rea, adding, “We’re not interested in who he’s married to. Anyway, I think he’s Protestant.” For his part, Rea explained the decision to serve as a surrogate for Adams not as an expression of any particular ideological affinity, but as a reaction against censorship. Whatever people thought of Adams, they should at least hear what the man had to say, Rea argued: “The problems will never be solved unless we are allowed to know what all the elements are.”