How do you build a reconciled society in the future if you’re trapped by the tribal traumas of the past?
By Andy Pollak, 2 Irelands together, on Thursday, 22 May, 2025
It's not an original thought to observe that many people in Northern Ireland are still obsessed - haunted even - by the traumatic experiences of the 'Troubles'. 27 years after the coming of relative peace with the passing of the Good Friday Agreement and the last terrible atrocity in Omagh, the northern newspapers are full of stories about so-called 'legacy issues.'
Take one day last week, 13th May. The nationalist Irish News reported that Ulster Human Rights Watch (an organisation which advocates for victims of terrorism, mainly republican terrorism) said the British government's legacy body, the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR), had agreed to re-investigate the Kingsmill massacre in January 1976, in which 10 Protestant workmen were murdered by an IRA gang in South Armagh using a cover name. Nobody was ever convicted for these killings and a recent Police Ombudsman report identified a series of failings into the original RUC investigation into them.
The Irish News also reported that the family of Sean Brown, the GAA official from Bellaghy, Co Derry, murdered by loyalists in May 1997, met the Tánaiste, Simon Harris, to urge him to support their demand for a public inquiry into his killing. They were accompanied by the GAA president, Jarlath Burns. GAA members have been asked by the family to take part in a 'Walk for Truth' in support of their demand.
The unionist News Letter reported that an online petition to protect British soldiers who had served in Northern Ireland from prosecution, started by a former soldier, had garnered nearly 30,000 signatures in three days. If it reaches 100,000, it will trigger a debate in the British parliament.
Campaigning for victims and survivors of Northern Ireland's violence is too often a tribal business: nationalists advocating for nationalist victims, unionists for unionist victims, British for British victims. The main exception to this rule is the WAVE trauma centre, with groups all over Northern Ireland which, in its own words, provides "care and support to anyone bereaved, injured or traumatised through the civil unrest in Northern Ireland, irrespective of religious, cultural or political belief."
WAVE does important work in a divided society that too often looks backwards to past trauma rather than forward to future hope. Its mission statement continues: "WAVE promotes a respect for life and an understanding of difference that is seen as enhancing rather than threatening. WAVE affirms and acknowledges that there are ways of resolving differences other than through the use of violence and continually seeks creative ways of working through issues that have the potential to divide."
Champions need to cross the divide
Wouldn't be a wonderful if the tribal lines were crossed for a change: if South Armagh man Jarlath Burns - by all accounts a thoroughly decent man - were to accompany Ulster Human Rights Watch in making representations on behalf of the 10 Protestants murdered at Kingsmills? Or if the local Presbyterian minister in Bellaghy were to accompany the Brown family in meeting politicians to demand a public inquiry into his murder? Or if the highly effective organisations set up to commemorate Bloody Sunday in Derry in January 1972 were also to take up the forgotten cause of the nine people - five Catholics and four Protestants - who were killed by an IRA bomb in the County Londonderry village of Claudy in July 1972?
That's what we call reconciliation, and I recognise that it's a very hard ask for families who have suffered terribly at the hands of Irish paramilitary groups or British security forces. I am a member of a small group called the Truth Recovery Process, initiated by by the historian and journalist (and former paramilitary) Padraig Yeates, Secretary, former Messines Fellowship director Harry Donaghy, who is Northern Chair, the former Chair of the Glasnevin Trust, John Green who is the Southern Chair and Liz McManus, former Deputy Leader of the Irish Labour Party, who is Vice Chair. It proposes a system that would enable former combatants - mainly paramilitaries and soldiers - to provide information to victims and their families about the facts of how their loved ones died without fear of prosecution. Victims' families would still have recourse to the courts if they so wished, although we believe that since many of the worst killings were in the early and mid-1970s, the chances of getting justice and 'closure' through the courts are increasingly unlikely as both perpetrators and family members get old and die.
We want to see cases dealt with through a mediation process overseen by senior British and Irish judges, with a Justice Facilitation Unit to mediate between victims and former combatants and provide mechanisms that would allow them to engage directly with each other.
The aim of this process is to enable both sides, victims and former combatants, to reconcile on the facts of 'Troubles' killings, since we believe that without such agreement, any further forms of reconciliation are very unlikely in the North. We agree with the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission that without the truth about such killings becoming known - initially to the family and (if they allow it) to the wider public - it will be very difficult to move towards reconciliation in wider society. As one loyalist acquaintance of mine put it recently: "It's keeping our communities more divided and has the potential to make things even worse over the coming years." The rash of controversial legacy issues that have consumed Northern Ireland in recent months and years only confirm us in this belief.
We believe that our Truth Recovery Process would provide for a speedier and fuller examination of each event than is possible through the courts, facilitate a wider process of reconciliation in divided communities and create a greater understanding and acknowledgement of the past. It is a future-oriented proposal to take the place - where feasible - of interminable past-oriented legal processes.
October Conference
We are planning a second conference (the first, two years ago, looked at parallel truth and reconcilation processes in South Africa, Chile and Colombia) on 18th October at Queen's University Belfast. This will look at the controversial issue of giving former combatants 'conditional amnesty' if they come forward and engage with victims' families in good faith. We believe that there is only a narrow gap between this and the so-called 'protected disclosure' procedure allowed for in the legislation that set up the much-criticised Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR).
And we agree with Professor Brice Dickson, former Northern Ireland Human Rights Chief Commissioner, and now a member of the ICRIR (another honourable man), when he wrote recently: "Victims and their families are primarily in need of information - from non-state as well as state sources - rather than endless legal investigations which at the end of the day are most unlikely in and of themselves to lead to liability or accountability." (1)
Further information available from http://www.truthrecoveryprocess.ie
(1) truthrecoveryprocess.ie/newsupdates/is-the-icrir-more-compliant-with-human-rights-law-than-opponents-claim
Comment: You can also reply to this email to leave a comment.
UDA blackmailer 'behind sectarian attacks on new social housing in north Belfast interface'
Sunday Life, May 25th, 2025
EXTORTIONIST BLAMED FOR TARGETING OF INNOCENT CATHOLIC FAMILIES IN BELFAST
A convicted UDA extortionist has been blamed for masterminding sectarian attacks at a new social housing complex in north Belfast yards from his own home.
Geordie Taggart has been named by multiple loyalist sources as the paramilitary godfather who ordered the smashing of windows at the properties in the Oldpark area of the city.
Sunday Life has been told that the ex-UDA prisoner sanctioned the intimidation after discovering Catholic families moved into Alloa Street and Annalee Street, off Manor Street.
The area is close to a notorious interface that was the scene for intense violence during the Troubles.
Although contacted by Sunday Life, Taggart refused to comment. His wife told us he was not at home when a reporter called.
However, UDA sources were more talkative and blamed the 63-year-old for ordering the recent sectarian attacks.
“Geordie is originally from the Highfield and hasn't lived in the area long himself. He has said locals were complaining about young kids running around in GAA tops and houses playing rebel music, but that's just lies,” said a loyalist source.
“The UDA wants them out because they're Catholic. They've lived there since last year and there wasn't a bit of bother until Geordie got involved.”
Insiders say Taggart was granted approval for the house attacks by a loyalist based in the lower Shankill area who is the '2IC' (second-in-command) of the terror gang's C Company unit.
“It was this idiot who gave Geordie the go-ahead to organise the attacks,” added our source.
“The best about it (is) this fella is connected to community groups that get government funding.”
Three of the families targeted in the UDA attacks fled their homes permanently last Thursday and Friday. They have been offered temporary accommodation in a local hotel and face the prospect of going back to the bottom of housing waiting lists.
One young mum, with three children aged five, three and two, told Sunday Life how “every window in the house was smashed” last Wednesday night.
Sound of breaking glass
“The sound of the breaking glass woke me up and a neighbour rang to say all the windows had been put in,” she explained. “I heard the gang running away and shouting, 'We'll be back on Friday'.”
Initially the young mum intended staying in her home, but left late on Thursday when a mob showed up outside chanting “cheerio, cheerio” and “get to f**k”.
At a meeting the following day with other targeted families, they were told the PSNI had intelligence the properties were to be petrol-bombed that evening.
“The threats were confirmed by Base 2,” she added. Base 2 is an intermediary group the Housing Executive uses to confirm paramilitary death threats.
“The sad thing is I lived there for six months without any hassle,” said the young mum.
“Everyone got along fine, it was a lovely wee street and community.
“I only took the house because I'd been on the housing waiting list for eight years and was told it was my last offer. Because they've done away with intimidation points, that's me back to the bottom of the waiting list and living in a hotel.”
Hate
Police have confirmed the motive behind the Alloa Street and Annalee Street attacks is sectarian and were treating the incidents as hate crime.
Geordie Taggart, who locals have linked to the attacks, has managed to keep a particularly low profile but is understood to lead the UDA in the lower Oldpark area. A one-time ally of former UDA boss Jim Spence, he was jailed in 2000 for running protection rackets for the terror group.
Taggart was sentenced to two years in prison after being convicted on eight counts of blackmail at Belfast Crown Court.
The case centred on an attempt to extort £3,000 from a building contractor operating in the north Belfast area.
Taggart's barrister told the court that his client had taken advantage of a situation to demand money which was never handed over.
The lawyer added that since the loyalist's arrest, and from being held in custody, he had learned his lesson and there was nothing to suggest he would reoffend in the future.
Speaking after Taggart's conviction, one officer involved in the investigation said: “As far as we are concerned, he was the main man behind extortion for the UDA in the Shankill area.
“He has organised and orchestrated it all. We have information that he blackmailed a lot of contractors who have yet to come forward.”
The lower Oldpark house attacks follow an incident in the Skegoneill area of north Belfast last month in which locals reported the attempted intimidation of two Catholic families from the mixed area by the UDA.
The PSNI has appealed for anyone with information to get in touch.
'Gerry Adams has cast this long shadow over my life since 1984'
Mark Tighe, Sunday Life, May 25th, 2025
SISTER OF IRA MURDER VICTIM TOOK STAND ON WEEK THREE AS DEFAMATION CASE AGAINST BBC NEARS END
It was endgame in week three of the Gerry Adams defamation case against the BBC at the High Court in Dublin.
After the BBC called an expert witness who endorsed the journalism in its Spotlight programme as “credible, reliable” and based on corroboration from multiple sources, the broadcaster's legal team turned from defence to attack.
Mr Adams claims he was defamed in a 2016 Spotlight programme and a BBC News online report that contained an interview in which it was alleged he sanctioned the murder of Denis Donaldson. He denies any involvement and is seeking damages of more than €200,000.
Three quickfire witnesses tore into the reputation of “Gerry Adams, the peacemaker”.
Instead, he was described by BBC witnesses as a “warmonger”, a “peace-taker” and a “leading member of the IRA”.
First on the stand was the woman who made the most impact: Ann Travers, a Belfast Catholic whose father became a magistrate. She told the jury that in 1984, while walking from Mass, her father was shot six times and survived. Her sister was killed in the same IRA shooting.
Ms Travers, who lives in Wicklow, works with a charity, the South East Fermanagh Foundation, that helps victims of the Troubles in both Northern Ireland and the Republic. It has about 5,000 members.
She said Mr Adams' reputation was of a “warmonger”. Among victims, he was regarded as “somebody who was very heavily involved with the murder of innocent people”.
It was a short question-and-answer session with Paul Gallagher, the BBC's senior counsel, before he sat down.
Declan Doyle, SC for Mr Adams, seemed apologetic and tentative as he cross-examined her.
Although Ms Travers appeared nervous at first, she seemed to bristle as Doyle questioned if her view was influenced by her past tragedy.
“We would like to be able to teach our young people about the futility of violence and terrorism,” she said.
Did she agree she viewed Northern Ireland through the perspective of victims?
“Yes, unfortunately there are thousands of us,” she said.
Mr Doyle said Ms Travers' personal tragedy informed her views.
She said Gerry Adams had “cast a long and dark shadow over my life since 1984” and that she still feared him.
Mr Doyle suggested that Ms Travers was wrong and that Mr Adams' reputation was “overwhelmingly” that of a peacemaker.
She disagreed. If asked about peacemakers she said she thought of John Hume.
She pointed to the death threats she received for criticising Mr Adams on social media. Mr Doyle insisted he was not seeking “confrontation”. He asked if Travers agreed that Northern Ireland was now peaceful compared to the Troubles.
“Of course, we should all be grateful that we're not getting murdered any more,” she replied.
“Thank you, Mr Adams, for people being able to go to work now and the IRA not murdering us any more.”
Senior counsel said Mr Adams had given evidence of supporting victims' groups. Ms Travers said he mainly supported groups affected by British violence and those whose families were in the IRA.
She said he did nothing for her support group which included IRA victims' families.
“So that's why his reputation is that he is still a warmonger,” she said.
Supporter
Mr Doyle was more combative with the next witness, Trevor Ringland, a former Irish rugby international who described Mr Adams as a “peace-taker”.
Mr Ringland, a solicitor, former politician and supporter of victims' groups, spoke about how Thomas Niedermayer, a German businessman, was murdered by the IRA.
He spoke about Mr Niedermayer's wife, daughter and son-in-law, who all took their own lives in the years that followed the murder.
“The other daughter, she drank herself to death,” Mr Ringland said.
“You look at the prisoners that we had in our society because we got into a conflict that should never have happened.”
Mr Doyle accused him of using a “soundbite” and of making speeches instead of answering questions.
Michael McDowell was the final witness. The former attorney general and justice minister spoke about how he never met anyone in politics or the media who did not think Gerry Adams was in the IRA.
He said he had received intelligence briefings while in government that said Mr Adams was a “leading member of the army council”. Mr Justice Alexander Owens later told the jury they could not consider Mr McDowell's statement about intelligence briefings as evidence.
Challenged by John Kerr, barrister for Mr Adams, that he had a “hatred” of Sinn Fein, Mr McDowell said that was “one way of putting it”.
Evidence
The jury was given the issue paper in the case on Thursday.
Only if the jury finds that Mr Adams was defamed will the reputation evidence come into play.
In his closing speech, Mr Gallagher said if the jury gets that far, he suggested Adams should only get nominal damages because of his reputation.
He said the case was a cynical attempt by Mr Adams to “launder” his reputation as an IRA leader.
Mr Doyle told the jury that while the BBC had attempted to portray Mr Adams' case as a “shabby, grubby exercise” that was a “cruel, bad joke” similar to a “compo claim”, in Irish law the remedy for any defamed citizen was to take a case to restore and vindicate their reputation.
He asked the jury to make an award above €200,000.
Before that, the jury will first decide whether the Spotlight programme and accompanying online story meant that Gerry Adams “authorised” the killing of Denis Donaldson in Donegal in 2006.
The BBC contends that it only reported allegations and Mr Adams' denials of same.
The second part of the issue paper asks the jury to decide if the BBC's defence of fair and reasonable reporting on a matter of public interest is met. If this is the case, then Mr Adams' case falls.
The jury of seven men and five women is expected to begin deliberations on Tuesday.
Costs of maintaining abandoned Maze site top £700k… and could hit £1m
Noel McAdam, Sunday Life, May 25th, 2025
The cost of maintaining the former Maze Long Kesh site could pass the £1m mark within the next decade, it has been warned.
Alliance Lagan Valley MLA Michelle Guy accused the Executive Office of “a complete failure” over the matter.
The most recent annual expenditure again exceeded £100,000, pushing the total over the last six years to more than £700,000, and likely to reach £1m by 2028.
Mrs Guy said: “The political stalemate on the Maze Long Kesh development comes with a cost, both in terms of paying for the continued upkeep of the site, but also the rising year-on-year cost of major developments.
Stalemate or transformation
“With political will and vision, this development would be transformational for Lagan Valley and wider Northern Ireland.
“Given the opportunity, the lack of action from the Executive Office is a complete failure.”
Sunday Life revealed last year that more than £600,000 had been spent on “essential” work on listed and retained buildings, grounds maintenance and improving security.
A development corporation set up to oversee the site has spent £3.6m on capital projects, including repair and restoration of the Second World War hangars that house the Ulster Aviation Society.
The cash was also used to continue facilitation at the site of the annual Balmoral show, Northern Ireland's agricultural shop window, which finished for this year last weekend.
The Executive Office has said the body appointed to oversee the former Long Kesh site “seeks as far as possible to maintain a state of readiness for future development”.
Belfast woman overwhelmed by husband's tribute to murdered parents
Noel McAdam, Sunday Life, May 25th, 2025
EACH STONE A REMINDER OF EACH LIFE THE IRA TOOK AWAY THAT DAY SHANKILL BOMB VICTIM OVERWHELMED BY HUSBAND'S TOUCHING TRIBUTE FOR HER MURDERED MUM AND DAD
Shankill bomb victim Michelle Williamson has spoken of her joy after a special garden of remembrance for the victims of the massacre was erected at her home.
The standing stones circle, with a headstone for each of the nine people murdered, was built by Michelle's husband Russell after several earlier attempts failed.
Michelle lost her parents in the no-warning bomb but was not allowed to have the words “murdered by the IRA in the Shankill bomb” on their headstone.
Donkeys she keeps at home destroyed earlier efforts to pay tribute to her late mum and dad George (63) and Gillian (47).
They had wanted Michelle to go shopping with them on the Saturday afternoon in 1993 when they would die after stopping to buy fish for tea.
“They were heading out to buy curtains for their new home,” Michelle recalled. “I waved them goodbye, and my mum shouted 'Cheerio, we'll see you later'.
Blood
“The next time I saw my father, he was lying dead in hospital with his head bandaged and blood seeping onto the pillow. I held his hand and kissed him on the cheek.
“I never even got to say goodbye to my mother. She was in such a bad state that relatives thought it would be too distressing for me to see her in the morgue.
“That's something that I'll regret for the rest of my life.”
Now, more than three decades later, Michelle has the tribute she always wanted.
“I can't believe what my husband did for me,” she said.
“I have said for years that I would love to have a little garden or memorial to the Shankill bomb victims on my own land, but every time I made one, my donkeys ate it.”
Her partner hired a digger for three weeks to carry out jobs around their property in Co Down.
“He was digging away in the front field. I hadn't a clue what he was doing and just let him get on with it,” Michelle said.
“He came in for a cup of tea and casually said to me 'I've made a memorial garden for you that is donkey-proof'.
“I dandered down the field, expecting to see a small rockery or something, but no, not even close.
“He had built me a standing stone circle with nine standing stones — one for each victim of the bomb and the two in the middle, with the joining stone represent my mum and dad.”
Michelle was left speechless after the gesture and burst into tears.
“I don't know where he got the idea but wow, I absolutely love it,” she said.
“When Mum and Dad were buried in Ballynahinch, the council would not let me put what I wanted on the headstone.
“I wanted to put 'Murdered by the IRA in the Shankill bomb', but it had to be their words, 'Killed in the Shankill tragedy'.
“To me, a tragedy is a car crash, not a mass murder, so every time I go to their grave, it makes me so angry, and because of it, I don't like going to the grave. But now that I have this stone circle, I'm going to have a marble plaque cut with my wording on it.”
Newry, Mourne and Down Council said: “This matter dates back more than 30 years and was dealt with by a legacy council prior to the 2015 merger of Newry and Mourne and Down district councils.”
A spokesperson added: “Given the significant passage of time, we are not in a position to provide further comment.”
Michelle and her brother Ian were the only family of the nine Protestant civilians killed who were not given a report by the PSNI's Historical Enquiries Team before it closed down in 2015.
“The reason they didn't engage with me was because the questions I asked were 'Who sanctioned the bomb and who made the bomb?'” she said.
“Years later, I did get a report, but it felt as if it had been cobbled together.”
Anniversary
On the 30th anniversary of the mass killing, a memorial featuring a clock permanently stopped at 13.06 — the time the bomb detonated at Frizzell's fish shop — was erected on the Shankill Road.
Nine trees were also planted in the garden beside West Kirk Presbyterian Church for the victims.
At the base of each one is a plaque with a tribute from family members.
The maple leaf trees are described as a “living memorial” to the dead.
The other victims were fish shop owner John Frizzell (63), his daughter Sharon McBride (29), Michael Morrison (27), his partner Evelyn Baird (27), their daughter Michelle (7), Wilma McKee (38) and Leanne Murray (13).
A week after the atrocity, UDA terrorists killed eight people at the Rising Sun Bar in Greysteel in what was widely seen as a revenge attack.
DUP Minister vows commitment to all sports as he attends senior GAA game
By David Young, PA, Irish News, May 25th, 2025
Gordon Lyons criticised for failing to attend a senior GAA match in first 15 months as sports minister.
Stormont minister Gordon Lyons has portrayed his attendance at his first senior GAA game as evidence of his commitment to promoting all sports in Northern Ireland.
The DUP Sports Minister was welcomed to the Athletic Grounds in Armagh on Saturday afternoon for the Gaelic football match between All-Ireland champions Armagh and Derry.
Mr Lyons did not take his seat in the main stand until after the traditional pre-match singing of the Irish national anthem, Amhran na bhFiann.
Arriving at the venue around 40 minutes before throw-in, he was greeted by senior Ulster GAA representatives, president Michael Geoghegan and chief executive officer Brian McAvoy.
Mr Geoghegan and Mr McAvoy sat either side of the minister during the game.
The DUP minister had faced criticism for not having attending a senior-level GAA match in his first 15 months as Communities Minister – a portfolio that includes responsibilities for sports in Northern Ireland.
Speaking to reporters as he arrived at the ground, Mr Lyons said he wanted the focus of his visit to remain on the sporting action.
“Last week, I received an invite from Ulster GAA to come to the match here in Armagh today and I’m pleased to have been able to have accepted that invitation,” he said.
“As minister for sports in Northern Ireland I want to see more people get more active, more often, and I recognise the role that the GAA has to play in us achieving that ambition.
Committed to ‘all sports in all areas’
“I’m looking forward to engaging with officials, with players and with staff today, and I hope I am once more demonstrating my commitment to all sport in all areas, at all levels in Northern Ireland, and that’s where the focus should be on today – on the sport.”
Mr Geoghegan said it was a “great day” for both the GAA and the minister.
“It’s a great day for us, it’s a great day for the minister,” he said.
“I believe he’s going to see a full house here and going to see a very exciting game in the all-Ireland series. So we’re delighted to have him as our guest here today.”
Mr McAvoy said while it would have made it “easier” if Mr Lyons had attended a game earlier in his time as minister, he acknowledged the issues he had coming to events on a Sunday.
“It probably would have been easier for both parties had it happened sooner,” he said.
Sunday observance
“But we do understand the minister, that we play a lot of our games on a Sunday, and obviously due to his beliefs he doesn’t attend any sporting events on a Sunday, and we respect that.
“So, it’s good that we finally managed to synchronise diaries.”
Mr Lyons’ attendance comes ahead of an expected funding decision on the troubled redevelopment of the derelict GAA ground at Casement Park in west Belfast.
Plans for a 34,000-capacity venue at Casement Park remain in limbo due to a major funding gap of around £150 million.
The £270 million project has faced years of delay due to disputes over planning and funding.
Last September, the UK Government ended hopes that the Belfast venue would host Euro 2028 soccer games when it said it would not bridge the funding gap to deliver the reconstruction in time.
The Stormont Executive has committed £62.5 million to the redevelopment, the Irish Government has offered roughly £42 million while the GAA has pledged to contribute at least £15 million.
UK Govt will not fill funding gap
The UK Government has said it will decide if it will make a contribution to the build costs as part of next month’s UK-wide Spending Review.
However, Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn has made clear that even if the Government does divert money to the project, the sum will not alone bridge the current funding gap.
The group have been outspoken on the war in Gaza and before they emerged on stage a screen displayed the message ‘Free Palestine’.Opens in new window
Mr Lyons, who has oversight for the project, has rejected claims he is not prioritising the rebuild, while Mr Benn has also pushed back at suggestions the impasse is the fault of the UK Government.
The minister did not comment on the Casement issues as he spoke to the media on Saturday.
Mr Geoghegan expressed hope that the UK Government would deliver a funding boost for the Casement rebuild.
“We’re hopeful, the GAA public at large are very hopeful that something will be coming our way,” he said.
“Because, as you can see, we have a full stadium here today. We had a full stadium there a fortnight ago in Clones (for the Ulster Senior Football Championship final).
“The crowds are coming and we need better facilities to host our games.”
Mr Lyons was not the first DUP politician to go to a GAA match.
Former party leaders Peter Robinson and Arlene Foster attended games, and current DUP deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly and former communities minister and current Education minister Paul Givan have tried their hands at Gaelic games during visits to GAA clubs.
Mr Lyons was also not the only Stormont minister at the Athletic Grounds on Saturday. Sinn Fein Infrastructure minister and Armagh fan Liz Kimmins was at the game, as were several other politicians, including Sinn Fein senator Conor Murphy and party MLA Cathal Boylan.
SDLP MLA and former Armagh player Justin McNulty was also in the stands.
