Extra Single Farm Payment Welcomed

Derg Sinn Féin Councillor Kieran Mc Guire has welcomed the decision by Agriculture Minister Michelle O’Neill to divert more money into the Single Farm Payment scheme.

Cllr Mc Guire said,

“This is a good news story for farmers in what has been a difficult year for them.  The decision to put an additional £15m into the Single Farm Payment scheme will no doubt be welcomed by both farmers and the general rural community.

“The Minister has shown she is aware of the financial difficulties facing the farmers and has acted decisively to inject more cash into the hands of farmers through the scheme.

 “These extra monies will help offset the growing price of feed for farmers with livestock and help those farmers whose crops are down due to the wet summer we have had.

 “The rural economy is greatly based upon the welfare of the farmers so this injection of more cash to the farmers will undoubtedly filter its way through the local communities and create a stimulus in this economy.”

Sinn Féin West Tyrone MP at Tory Party Conference

Sinn Féin West Tyrone MP, Pat Doherty will address a fringe meeting at the British Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham tomorrow (Tuesday) morning.

Before leaving for Birmingham Pat Doherty said:

“On the day that my Party colleagues will be arguing in the Assembly for deferral of the Welfare Reform Bill until there are substantial amendments made to it, I will take the opportunity at the Conservative Party Conference to impress on the British Tories its unacceptability to the people of the North of Ireland.

“Rather than much needed reform as the Tories are attempting to portray their proposals they are in fact a continuation of the cuts agenda from a British Government that cannot relate to the needs of the people. Reducing disposable income coupled with the reduction of spending on infrastructure and capital projects will have the inevitable effect of pushing more people into poverty and deprivation. This is further evidence of the need to have maximum fiscal powers transferred away from London to the Assembly as it is clear that economic policy makers in Whitehall have no conception of the social and economic conditions that pertain here.

“I will be highlighting the detrimental effects of the £4 billion cut to the North's budget which are already having devastating effects on our economy.

“I also intend to raise the Marion Price and Martin Corey cases and call on the new British Secretary of State to take a more enlightened and sensible approach to this issue than her predecessor Owen Paterson.”

DUP Council Chair must retract offensive ‘anti-woman’ remark

Sinn Féin West Tyrone MLA Michaela Boyle has described remarks by the DUP Chair of Strabane District Council Thomas Kerrigan in which he stated that “God made man and he made woman as a helper’ as not only grossly offensive but totally inappropriate given his position as first citizen of the District with a responsibility to represent all its people equally.

The DUP man made the controversial remarks in this week’s edition of the Strabane Chronicle when outlining why he would be opposing a Sinn Féin sponsored motion seeking that the local council supports the same rights and entitlements to civil marriage for all citizens regardless of race, religion or sexuality.  The motion is to be debated in the Council Chamber this coming Monday (8 October).

In response to his remarks Michaela Boyle said,

“Since the publication of this remark yesterday, I have been contacted by a large number of people absolutely incensed that the DUP Chair of Strabane District Council felt fit to make such a grossly offensive remark which clearly infers that women are somehow inferior to men.

“His regressive remark is particularly alarming given his position as Chair of Strabane District Council with not only a statutory duty to uphold gender equality law, but also because of his responsibility to represent all the citizens of the District equally.

“According to the recently published census figures there are 20,016 female residents in Strabane District. So through his comments Thomas has effectively designated over half the population of the District as ‘helpers’.  This cannot be left unchallenged.

“I would call therefore upon the DUP Chair to immediately retract this remark immediately.

Strabane Sinn Féin calls for immediate release of Marion Price, Martin Corey and Gerry Mc Geough

Sinn Féin has submitted a motion to Strabane District Council calling for the immediate release of Marion Price and Martin Corey and Gerry McGeough.

The motion is scheduled for debate at the meeting of full council this coming Monday (8 October) and in proposing the motion on behalf of the 8 strong Sinn Fein grouping, Cllr Kieran Mc Guire said,

“Everyone is entitled to due process. Both Martin Corey and Marion Price have been denied this. Their continued detention without trial is an infringement of their human rights and clearly undermines the justice system. Their imprisonment is unjust and is in defiance of rulings by the courts in both cases. Both have been granted bail by the courts and yet remain in prison.


“The arrest and continuing detention of Gerry McGeough represents a flagrant breach by the British Government of its commitments in the Weston Park Agreement with respect to OTRs.

“All three should be released immediately."

Large numbers attend annual republican commemorative events in Strabane

Large numbers attended commemorative events held in Strabane this weekend in memory of local republicans listed on the West Tyrone Roll of Honour and Remembrance.

Speaking following the events, Chair of Strabane National Graves Association and Sinn Fein Councillor Jay Mc Cauley said,

“At this time each come we come together to remember the sacrifice of the republican dead from this area, to stand in solidarity with their families and to rededicate our efforts to fulfill the objectives of Irish Unity based on Equality and Justice for which they struggled and for which gave their lives.

“This year’s commemorative events were extremely memorable and I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to everyone who contributed towards making them such a success.

“The lecture and discussion on the theme of “Remembering our Past, Forging our Future,” held in Fountain Street on Saturday evening saw excellent contributions from the panel of Gráinne Mhic Géidigh, Barry Mc Elduff and Declan Kearney and allowed for wide ranging input and debate from the floor. Given the positive feedback received from many in attendance it is hoped that we can build similar such events into the itinerary for future commemorative weekends.

“On Sunday afternoon, the annual commemoration parade from the Ballycolman to Strabane Graveyard was led by a colour party and 4 bands and following the laying of wreaths, reading of the West Tyrone Roll of Honour and Remembrance and the lowering of flags at the Republican Plot, there was warm and sustained applause for a haunting poetry reading of Mise Éire accompanied by flute music and a powerful solo rendition of Four Green Fields.

 Main speaker at proceedings in the Graveyard was Éibhlín Glenholmes and in a moving and inspirational speech she primarily focused on the sacrifices that families of republican dead have been forced to endure as a result of the involvement of their loved ones in the struggle for Irish freedom and continuing she stated:

“We know that it simply isn’t true that time heals – we just learn to live with the grief. And we know that there has been an ongoing strategy carried out by our political enemies to create a hierarchy of victims – to try and convince the world that there is a  Unionist ascendancy of victimhood – that your loss is lesser than anyone else’s.

“But that is simply not true. Each loss carries its own pain.
All tears that fall are the same.
No parents love is lesser or greater than anyone else’s.
Grief is the great equaliser.”

In poignant concluding remarks Eibhlín directly addressed the many young people present saying,

“We need to increase the demand for Irish Unity. We need to become one nation in order to build the Ireland of Equals. That’s what our fallen comrades sacrificed their lives for. For our future. For our tomorrows. For the children of the nation.

“So youth has a lot to do. And youth need to know your place.
Your place is to be the engine – your place is in the vanguard.
Your place will be to one day stand where I stand now and tell the families “We kept our faith with you”.

“It’s then we’ll see the rising of the moon.”

Following the graveyard proceedings the parade reformed and made its way back to Fountain Street Community Centre were refreshments were served.

Sinn Féin meets Ambulance Service on ‘inadequacy’ of Derg cover

Sinn Féin councillors Maolíosa Mc Hugh and Kieran Mc Guire have held a meeting with senior Ambulance Service officials to press them on ongoing concerns over ‘inadequate levels of ambulance cover’ being provided in the Derg area of Strabane District Council.

In a joint statement following the meeting with Mr Brian Mc Neill (Ambulance Service Headquarters) and Frank Orr (Western Division Area Manager) the Sinn Féin elected representatives said,

“Sinn Féin has been highlighting the issue of inadequate ambulance cover being provided for the people of Derg area over recent years and in particular how the ambulance located at the Castlederg station always appears to be the first to be moved out to provide cover elsewhere within Western Division area.

“It is clear that this practice has resulted in delayed response times to this area. This was illustrated earlier this year when Hungarian national Sandor Lakatos died suddenly of a heart attack in Castlederg and the ambulance had to come from Omagh. This is not to say that Mr Lakatos would still be alive today had the ambulance to come from the local station, but obviously it increases a person’s chance of survival if an ambulance is on site quicker.

“From our on the ground knowledge we believe that Castlederg and its large rural hinterlands is being left without ‘onsite’ ambulance cover for between 20-25% of the time and at the meeting Mr Frank Orr gave us commitment to come back within 1 month to provide us with the exact statistics as to the amount of time the Castlederg ambulance is withdrawn to provide cover to other areas..

“Mr Brian Mc Neill of Ambulance Headquarters took our concerns on board and gave us a commitment to assess current ambulance service provision within the Division to see what, if any, improvements can be made.

Work to take away Adria mound rubble commences

Strabane Sinn Féin Councillor Brian Mc Mahon has welcomed today’s commencement of action by the owner of the derelict Adria site in Strabane to take away a high mound of rubble, to the right of the site, which was being used as launching pad to target homes in the adjoining Melmount Road area.

“I have been pressing the site owner to take such remedial action for some months. While this will not solve all the problems in terms of the anti-community activity that has been emanating from the derelict site, it hopefully will improve the situation for residents in adjoining properties on the Melmount Road who have been enduring missile attacks from a high mound of rubble overlooking their homes within the Adria site.

“The land owner contacted me last night to let me know that machinery would be on site today to commence this work and I would therefore appeal that this essential work can be undertaken without any hindrance or interference so that it can be completed as quickly as possible.”