Joe McCann one of Ireland's all time bravest soldiers killers are to be charged with his murder.

Joe McCann a prominent member of the Official IRA was killed while unarmed in 1972 by British paratroopers, McCann was involved in gun battles between the Official IRA and 3,000 British soldiers in the falls curfew of 1970.

In 1971 he attacked a British army patrol killing one soldier, In another incident, McCann led a unit which captured 3 UVF members in Sandy Row. The UVF had raided an OIRA arms dump earlier that day and the OIRA announced they would execute the three prisoners if the weapons were not returned. The weapons were not returned but McCann eventually released the three UVF members because they were "working class men like yourself".

His most famous act came on 9 August 1971 when his unit took over the Inglis bakery in the Markets area and fortified it after the introduction of internment without trial by the Northern Ireland authorities They defended it throughout the night from an incursion by 600 British soldiers, looking to arrest paramilitary suspects. The action allowed other IRA members to slip out of the area and avoid arrest. He was photographed during the incident, holding an M1 carbine, against the background of a burning building and the Starry Plough flag, one of the most striking early images of The Troubles.

In another incident he and a comrade were standing outside a Belfast cinema to purchase tickets for the film Soldier Blue when McCann spotted a British Army checkpoint. He drew his gun and fired at the soldiers before running away laughing.

His funeral was one of the largest at the time stretching over a mile.

I thought peace had returned to Northern Ireland: this case will just reopen deep wounds from the past. This man was a terrorist and died fighting for his cause. At least he made that choice for himself, unlike the thousands of innocents whose lives were blighted by terrorist bombing and shooting during the period of the troubles. Why are their killers not facing prosecution? I suspect the sniff of compensation may be behind this.

I agree a pointless prosecution, I don't agree that he was a terrorist he was one of Ireland's bravest soldiers.

So these soldiers are being arrested for saving lives? It was a war - that is why the IRA has the word army at the end.

More parasitic lawyers who probably wouldn't last five minutes as a soldier or a police officer without pooing their pants will no doubt sit in judgement and make a packet in the process.

If killing bad people justifies arrest shouldn't Obama be arrested to ordering the murder of bin Laden who was unarmed at the time?

Brave Irish soldiers were the people who joined the official Irish armed forces and helped with peacekeeping missions abroad. This man decided he didn't like the democratic process so decided to go out and killed soldiers and others - he was a terrorist as he sought to subvert the democratic process by murder.

No, he was a terrorist.

However, if he was murdered then that was unlawful and they should of course be prosecuted I suppose, although it does appear to be a useless prosecution.

That's a joke, the Irish armed forces were contemplating an invasion at the time but ruled against it because they would have been slaughtered, the only people who subverted the democratic process were the British who held on to Irish land against the wishes of the Irish people, nothing better than a bully who done so because they were bigger and more powerful.

I hope that's a joke.

The IRA treated it as a war, therefore they should have expected the same in return, but that wasn't allowed in the main.

This should never see a courtroom, and should be accepted as an incident from way back in different times.

So many terrorists were released early to allow some sort of peace, and that left enough of a sour taste for many, but if it helped, then let it be, but the same should apply here.

Lawyers are making a fortune out of taking on troops from all manner of "wars", and it is is wrong. I'm sure there are some WW2 soldiers alive who probably killed someone other than by the rules. Maybe they should be next for the treatment.

he was an Irish freedom fighter who fought against the bullying, discrimination and murder of his people.

One man's freedom fighter is another's terrorist.

It's far from a joke, he was one of Ireland's bravest men of all time.

No wonder there will always be problems there when people believe this rubbish.

It's actually an insult to the many genuine brave people to come out of Ireland.

DP, I suspect this guy is just a WUM

Like who?

So you don't consider him and his unit with rusty old WW1 weapons holding off hundreds of British soldiers for days without sleep brave?

Shows what you think of the British army.

He was commander of the Official IRA's third Belfast battalion and rightly regarded by security forces as a dangerous terrorist.
When people declare a war of terrorism, what do you expect? Everyone sits back and takes it?
This makes a complete mockery of the justice system, the peace process and the genuinely brave NI citizens. .

Who will be facing justice for his and other OIRA members part in the slaughter of innocent victims?

What next, gather up and imprison every terrorist who was released early?

He was widely regarded in Ireland at the time as the bravest Irishman on the ground and there have been numerous songs written about him by some of Ireland's most famous singers.

There wasn't many innocent victims, the Official IRA wouldn't even kill members of loyalist paramilitaries as they considered them as "deluded Irishmen"

Really? Tell that to their loved ones and the British Army. I'm sure they'll be relieved and surprised! Are you totally insensitive, ill informed or on a wind up?

The Official IRA wouldn't even kill loyalist paramilitaries any innocent civilian who was killed was killed by complete accident.

I'd agree with you if you accepted that that should apply to crimes committed by all sides in the conflict. In my view what was missing from the peace agreements of the early 1990's was the establishment of a South African style Peace & Reconciliation Commission where all sides would come forward and be open and honest about who did what, with no fear of prosecution. That would have drawn a proper line in the sand.

By murdering other people. Many of which were civilians killed by IRA bombs.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Friday_(1972)
'At least twenty bombs exploded in the space of eighty minutes, most within a half hour period. Most of them were car bombs and most targeted infrastructure, especially the transport network. Nine people were killed, including two British soldiers and five civilians, while 130 were injured.'

The perpetrators of this have gone unpunished. It's not exactly fair, is it?

Bloody Friday was done by the provisional IRA to cripple the city although warnings were given the security forces were unable to cope with over 20 bombs in the space of an hour and some areas weren't fully evacuated.

And if we want to start bringing this kind of stuff up I can bring up 3 massacres of innocent men, women and children carried out by the parachute regiment in the space of that year.

Warnings do NOT make a bombing justified. Are you referring to Bloody Sunday, which had two enquiries, one costing an alleged £400 million? The events which I was referring too have yet to bring a person to court.

Well that's one of them I was also referring to the Springhill massacre and the ballymurphy massacre.

In springhill they killed a 13 year old girl, a 14 and 15 year old boy, a Catholic priest and a few more