Northern Ireland: Band of Sisters

The I.R.A. released a signed statement that it had offered to shoot the men responsible, an offer the McCartney family said it rejected. Since then more victims of I.R.A. thuggery have gone public. Outrage at the I.R.A.'s failure to root out criminal elements has focused scrutiny on Sinn Fein, which is already under pressure to distance itself from the I.R.A. after a $50 million robbery at a Belfast bank in December that the British and Irish governments have blamed on the armed group. Congressional supporters of Sinn Fein say the group must dismantle the I.R.A. if it hopes to revive failing peace negotiations with the other parties to the 1998 Good Friday agreement. Adams told TIME that he supports the "objective of bringing an end to all armed groups," but he would not commit to a specific date. "I don't think pressure works," he says. He condemns McCartney's murder but says the I.R.A. was not responsible for it: "Mr. Robert McCartney was killed by individuals--he was not killed by any armed organization; he was not killed in any operation authorized by any armed organization."

The McCartneys vow to continue fighting. Paula is considering a run for Belfast city council. The women's courage has already won them some important friends. After the sisters told Ted Kennedy that their mother adored President John F. Kennedy, the Senator insisted on speaking to her. Reached by phone, she asked Kennedy, "Are you taking good care of my girls?" The sisters have earned it. --With reporting by Melissa August and John F. Dickerson/Washington