Sinn Fein arrogance and menace haven't gone away, you know

The role of senior Sinn Fein politicians, the response of the PSNI and the decision of the PPS not to bring any prosecutions have certainly angered many people who saw the event as a Sinn Fein show of strength.

They ask what led Sinn Fein to believe they could get away with it and why the PSNI did not intervene to disperse the crowds.

Eventually, Chief Constable Simon Byrne claimed that any attempt to intervene would have caused "widespread violence and disorder".

Policing Board member Gerry Kelly said this was "ludicrous", but the clear impression was that the PSNI had pandered to Sinn Fein and a perceived threat of violence.

The protracted nature of the investigation did not help, either.

The funeral was in June, but it was December before the PSNI sent a report to the PPS, so why did it take so long to prepare the case?

Were they hoping that public anger would dissipate?

Or was there a desire not to interfere too much with the diary commitments of senior republicans? After all, they are busy people.

Another three months elapsed before the PPS announced its decision and it came with a nine-page explanation.

This document was damning in what it revealed of the engagement between Sinn Fein and the PSNI, with the "lead Sinn Fein organiser" even requesting PSNI "assistance in conducting searches", since all the senior Sinn Fein leadership would be there.

The PSNI knew there would be a major breach of Covid regulations and yet they assisted it.

It is no wonder that unionist politicians spoke of the PSNI "pandering" to Sinn Fein; they were merely articulating what people were thinking.

The primary culprit in all of this is Sinn Fein, whose ministers endorsed the Covid regulations, whose members organised the funeral and whose leaders fronted it.

Their arrogance is breathtaking and shows no sign of dissipating. They seem to think of themselves as "untouchables".

So, why did the PSNI adopt such a soft approach to this event?

And do we see a similar soft approach to Sinn Fein from other organisations and sectors?

A few years ago, a Dublin newspaper carried the headline "Gerry Adams now exudes a palpable air of menace".

We saw that same air of menace when Bobby Storey stood alongside Martin McGuinness and Martina Anderson and told a republican crowd, "We haven't gone away, you know." They were sinister words, everyone knew what he meant and they reinforced his party's air of menace.

Last year, Leo Varadkar accused Sinn Fein of mounting a "campaign of intimidation" after a young woman, who had tweeted about Sinn Fein, was visited at her home by a party member.

In the end, Mary Lou McDonald had to intervene publicly to deflect the charges of intimidation.

The records of some Sinn Fein politicians, the ranks of marching men, the acts of intimidation, the organised trolling of critics and the IRA commemorations all combine to give Sinn Fein an air of menace and a clout that no other political party has in this part of the world.

Sinn Fein have received preferential treatment and protected status for decades and have come to expect it.

Twenty years ago, 200 republicans were given "on the run" letters by Tony Blair, and Gerry Kelly received the Royal Prerogative of Mercy.

We hear much talk of two-tier policing and justice, but the problem is wider than that.

It is a problem of two-tier treatment in many areas and that "air of menace" remains part of the problem.

An Old Testament proverb says, "The fear of man bringeth a snare."

I would respectfully suggest that a fear of the Shinners is part of the problem here.

The air of menace hasn't gone away and Sinn Fein are the beneficiaries.