President Catherine Connolly has said she was pleased to meet Ann and Paul Travers, whose sister Mary was murdered by the Provisional IRA in 1984.

On a visit to Belfast last month, Connolly met Mary McArdle, a non-executive director of the Falls Road Women’s Centre.

McArdle was the only person convicted of the murder of 23-year-old schoolteacher Mary Travers while she was walking home with her parents from Sunday Mass on April 8th, 1984.

The original target was Mary’s father, Tom, who was a resident magistrate. He was shot six times but survived. A gun was placed to the head of his wife, Joan, but it jammed.

Ann Travers subsequently wrote an article in The Irish Times in which she said that seeing the president meeting McCardle “broke me”.

She added: “Some – including Sinn Féin – say that former prisoners are an important part of the peace process, but the Historical Enquiries Team asked McArdle to help with the investigation into my sister’s murder, and she declined. I have asked to meet with her.

“She has ignored me. I believe she knows who shot my dad and murdered my sister. She could give us answers. I promised my dad as he was dying that I would get justice for Mary.”

Connolly agreed to meet with the Traverses and said she was glad to hear of the experience “of all those families who lost loved ones over the years of violence in the Troubles as well as the ongoing importance of peace and reconciliation”.

Travers said she and her brother spent an hour and a half with the President and they were both pleased with the meeting.

“I explained to the President the triggers and traumas when I saw the photograph with Mary McArdle. McArdle is entitled to move on with her life, but it is so difficult when I see her.”

According to Ann Travers, the President understood her hurt and told her that she met many people from both the Falls Road Women’s Centre and the Shankill Road Women’s Centre when she visited Belfast.

“I explained to her the sensitivities for us over that meeting and see the photograph was so difficult,” Ann Travers added.

The President told her she had come away from her visit to Belfast feeling hopeful about the future of the North.

Travers suggested the President should meet victims and survivors of the Troubles, especially those living in the Republic, including the Garda widows and the civilians who lost loved ones.

She also asked the President to intervene and organise a meeting with her and the McArdle family.