Actually, most of us did not make much of the McCartney murder.
A nasty little pub brawl.
We took notice when it appeared that Sinn Fein oficials and election candidates were involved in covering up the crime and intimidating witnesses. Such accusations in the run up to an election would make headlines anywhere.
Then we saw the Nationalist people of the Short Strand demonstrating in the streets against SF and PIRA.
Such a thing had never, ever happened before.
Then the Sinn Fein vote in Short Strand collapsed.

As I kept saying in the previous debates, it was not the killing but the cover up that made the incident so remarkable.

No one listened then either.