Monday, April 06, 2009

How relevant is the 1916 Proclamation in Ireland today? Public talk in QUB

Sheena Campbell QUB Sinn Fein cumann hosted a very successful debate in the build up to this year’s Easter commemorations. The debate entitled ‘How relevant is the 1916 proclamation in Ireland today’ took place in the University last week.

The panel included Brian Feeney, Irish News columnist, former member of the IRA and hunger striker, Tommy Mc Kearney, Roy Garland, a unionist columnist for the Irish News and SF MLA Barry Mc Elduff. The event was chaired by QUB SF member Gemma McKenna. The talk was attracted some 50 students of all political persuasions.

Spokesperson for the QUB Sinn Féin Shane Boylan stated that:

“The cumann felt that it was important to organise an event to mark the upcoming anniversary of the Easter rising. The event sparked great debate about all aspects of the proclamation. We as a cumann wanted to encourage all of the student body to attend and so were eager to invite unionist Roy Garland to share his views on the proclamation.”

He added that:

“The cumann is already planning further events for the rest of the year that will be relevant to students of today. We are keen to create ties with other political parties in order to encourage as lively a debate as possible.”

Shane concluded by stating that the large crowd of students that attended the talk was evident that the proclamation is still relevant to our young people today.

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