SF ‘not ashamed’ of tribute to escapees

SINN FÉIN has stood over its controversial 20th anniversary celebration of the Maze breakout despite strong condemnation of the event from political parties North and South.

Leading Sinn Féin politicians and a number of escapees gathered in a Letterkenny hotel last night to commemorate the September 1983 escape. Some 38 prisoners escaped in a breakout that also resulted in the death of a prison officer and several others sustaining injuries.

Last night Sinn Féin’s North Belfast MLA Gerry Kelly, who was one of the escapees in 1983, said he regretted the death of the prison officer but nonetheless said it would be a “celebratory occasion” of an event that lifted republican morale “sky high”.