Man bereaved by IRA to speak at SF summer school

A man whose wife and father-in-law were killed in an IRA bombing will be among a wide variety of speakers attending the year’s Sinn Féin summer school which gets under way in Co Cork this evening.

Alan McBride, whose wife and father-in-law died in the IRA’s Shankill Rd bombing in 1993 will address the gathering along with Amanda Fullerton, whose father, SF Cllr Eddie Fullerton, was killed by unionist paramilitaries in Donegal in 1991.

They will join SF national chairman Declan Kearney in a panel discussion on reconciliation and dealing with the legacy of the conflict.

Singer/songwriter Brian Kennedy, a member of the Spanish parliament, and an outspoken Dublin rap artist are also among the guest speakers for the third annual Scoil Shamhraidh na Saoirse which takes place in Báile Bhúirne in West Cork.

The organisers say the summer school is a forum for debating progressive ideas about building a better Ireland and to foster debate about an alternative vision for Ireland, including with those who do not agree with Sinn Féin.

Meanwhile, Irish Examiner political editor Paul O’Brien, UTV’s former head of news Rob Morrison — the man drafted in by RTÉ to investigate ‘Tweetgate’ — and former political editor for Raidio naGaeltachta Eoin Ó Murchú will discuss the relationship between politics and the media here.

The summer school will also hear contributions by Catalan independence leader and Republican Left member of the Spanish Parliament Alfred Bosch and Brian O’Donohue, international representative for the Labourers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA).

Guest speaker in the arts section is singer/songwriter and star of the RTÉ show The Voice of Ireland, Brian Kennedy.

This section also features outspoken Dublin rap artist Elaine Harrington.