Speaking following the launch of a billboard calling on people to wear an Easter Lily, Chairperson of the local Ógra Shinn Féin group Seán Mac Giolla Easpaig said;
“Throughout this week our activists have been working hard on the ground promoting the wearing of the Easter Lily among our communities. We feel it is important that this symbol of remembrance in the Republican tradition be proudly worn by all those who support the notion of Irish unity during Easter week.”
“In this the 100th anniversary year of the foundation of the first republican youth organisation, Na Fianna Eireann, Ógra Shinn Féin would especially urge the young people of our communities to learn of the sacrifices made by our past generations of youth, and pay tribute to them this Easter.”
“This week we have also been distributing leaflets calling for the Easter Lily to be afforded equal status to that of the ‘poppy’ which is worn to commemorate British soldiers and loyalist paramilitaries. We would ask the ‘equality’ commission why Britain’s war dead are given official recognition in schools and in the work place, in the six counties while Ireland’s patriot dead are afforded no such status? There is no barrier preventing Sinn Féin ministers in Stormont wearing their Easter Lily at this time of year, therefore we believe there can be no justification for banning this symbol from being worn in schools and in the work place.”
“We believe this is a simple issue of equality. The Easter Lily is a symbol of remembrance for fallen comrades who took part in a conflict in which all sides suffered. Affording one side of this conflict the right to remember their dead while denying others is simply an injustice which will not go unchallenged. Ógra Shinn Féin will be at the forefront of this campaign until the equality commission take steps to end this discrimination”
NOTE: The local Easter commemoration in Strabane will take place in Strabane graveyard at 1:00pm, the Drumboe Martyrs commemoration will leave from Johnson’s corner Stranorlar at 3:00pm.
“Throughout this week our activists have been working hard on the ground promoting the wearing of the Easter Lily among our communities. We feel it is important that this symbol of remembrance in the Republican tradition be proudly worn by all those who support the notion of Irish unity during Easter week.”
“In this the 100th anniversary year of the foundation of the first republican youth organisation, Na Fianna Eireann, Ógra Shinn Féin would especially urge the young people of our communities to learn of the sacrifices made by our past generations of youth, and pay tribute to them this Easter.”
“This week we have also been distributing leaflets calling for the Easter Lily to be afforded equal status to that of the ‘poppy’ which is worn to commemorate British soldiers and loyalist paramilitaries. We would ask the ‘equality’ commission why Britain’s war dead are given official recognition in schools and in the work place, in the six counties while Ireland’s patriot dead are afforded no such status? There is no barrier preventing Sinn Féin ministers in Stormont wearing their Easter Lily at this time of year, therefore we believe there can be no justification for banning this symbol from being worn in schools and in the work place.”
“We believe this is a simple issue of equality. The Easter Lily is a symbol of remembrance for fallen comrades who took part in a conflict in which all sides suffered. Affording one side of this conflict the right to remember their dead while denying others is simply an injustice which will not go unchallenged. Ógra Shinn Féin will be at the forefront of this campaign until the equality commission take steps to end this discrimination”
NOTE: The local Easter commemoration in Strabane will take place in Strabane graveyard at 1:00pm, the Drumboe Martyrs commemoration will leave from Johnson’s corner Stranorlar at 3:00pm.
2 comments:
Hi can you put my blog up on your links.
the blog is
http://sinnfeinkeepleft.blogspot.com/
The Red Poppy does not comemorate Loyalist paramilitaries, only members of the British military.
Good luck with the campaign about the lilly.
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