The building was erected quickly following the first sod being cut for the new building last October. Celebrations got off to a start outside the new building as Fr. John Chester blessed the building with Holy Water. Head Boy Niall McCaffrey, and Head Girl Aoife Wray, were tasked with cutting the ribbon for the new school. Guests were invited to walk around the new school building where they marvelled at the seven new classrooms and the state-of-the-art Sixth Form centre – furnished with a kitchenette and a suite of laptops. The Chair of the Board of Governors, Councillor Thomas O’Reilly, welcomed guests and said: “It is a momentous occasion to get to this point. There have been so many people that have contributed to making sure that this became a reality, in a relatively short time, and I want to thank the whole team.”
A PROJECT that has been labelled as “a golden opportunity” for tourism has moved another step towards realisation. The Enniskillen to Sligo Greenway comprises a 72km route heading west from Enniskillen, under the shadow of Belmore Mountain, turning through Belcoo and Blacklion and then on towards Sligo. Leitrim County Council has opened up an e-tender process to secure the services of a design team to undertake a preliminary design, route selection, environmental reports and documents supporting a statutory development consent/planning process for the project. Fine Gael Councillor on Leitrim County Council, Sean McDermott, welcomed the latest progress in this project.
Foster commends Ballymurphy families for their tenacity First Minister Arlene Foster is among a range of politicians who have reacted to the news that the ten people killed in Ballymurphy, West Belfast in 1971 were innocent. The British Army was found responsible for nine of the deaths of 10 people in Ballymurphy in August 1971, including a mother-of-eight and a Catholic priest, following fresh inquests. Presiding Coroner Mrs Justice Keegan acknowledged it was a chaotic time but ruled that the use of force by soldiers had been “disproportionate” in the deaths the Army was found to have been responsible for. Posting on Twitter the Fermanagh South Tyrone MLA said: “This has been a long road for the Ballymurphy families. 50 years later, the court has considered the evidence and the findings should be accepted. I commend the families for their tenacity.
Workers Revolutionary Party
BY FRA HUGHES
‘THEY will not criminalise us, rob us of our true identity, steal our individualism, depoliticise us, churn us out as systemised, institutionalised, decent law-abiding robots. Never will they label our liberation struggle as criminal,’ Bobby Sands.
The 1980 Hunger Strike led by Brendan Hughes comprised of seven Republican male prisoners at Her Majesty’s Cellular Prison, the Maze, also known as Long Kesh Prison Camp and three female Republican prisoners at Armagh Women’s Prison ended in December 1980 after 53 days.
An agreement was reached between the protesting prisoners, the prison authorities and by extension the British Government ending the Hunger Strike. The prisoners demanding the reinstatement of Special Category Status were Republican volunteers jailed for opposing politically and militarily the British occupation of Ireland were treated as POWs, Prisoners of War.
THE Centenary celebrations of the formation of Northern Ireland and the Partition of Ireland was one of the many casualties of the Coronavirus pandemic. Without the ongoing pandemic, Monday would doubtless have been marked with great fanfare from Unionist groups across civic society – instead, celebrations and commemorations have been delayed until later in the year. Locally, Centenary day plans were pared right back, with Enniskillen Castle being illuminated in purple, in non-partisan, corporate Council colours on May 3 to mark 100 years since The Government of Ireland Act 1920 came into effect, marking a respectful if muted acknowledgement of the milestone. Nationalist groups have been clear they would not be celebrating Partition, but perhaps people on all sides of political divides in Northern Ireland will have used the anniversary to take stock of the current situation, reflect on what the North has experienced in the past 100 years, and to use this time to look to the