Sperrin Hikers salute the courage of the Loughgall Martyrs

A troupe of 150 hikers braved the elements on Saturday to climb the Sperrin Mountains in a 'Walk of Freedom' to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Loughgall Martyrs.

The hike was organised by the Tyrone SF Commemoration committee and was part of a programme of events to commemorate the lives of the 9 men killed by the SAS on 8th May 1987.

The route, which straddled the Tyrone/Derry border, crossed 9 mountains, including Sawel and Mullaghclogha which are the highest points in Counties Derry and Tyrone.

One of the organisers was Strabane Cllr Jay Mc Cauley.

According to Jay, 'From early morning, enthusiastic walkers descended on the rural hamlet of Aughabrack for registration and transport to the starting point near the village of Sperrin, located deep in the mountain range.

'We were delighted with the number of people who turned out to take part. Not only had we large numbers from Tyrone, but comrades joined us from Fermanagh, Donegal, Derry, South Armagh, Monaghan and from as far afield as Cork and Dublin.

'The walkers consisted of young, old, experienced and inexperienced but everyone did it at their own pace and everyone was united in a strong sense of camaraderie and friendship. Although we were physically challenged, when we seen the portrait of each volunteer at the summit, it put our own discomfort into perspective and inspired us to march on.

Another participant was the chairperson of Sinn Féin in East Tyrone Paul Kelly,
According to Paul 'The views from the top of the Sperrins are absolutely breathtaking and given that it was a fine day and high altitude, we could see as far as East Tyrone where many of the volunteers hailed from and we could clearly see the glow of Lough Neagh and North Armagh where the 9 men lost their lives on that fateful evening in 1987.

'All of the men who died at Loughgall had a deep appreciation of our beautiful country and its people. As such, this was a very fitting way to combine a health and fitness challenge with an event to commemorate the sacrifice of the Loughgall Martyrs on the 25th anniversary of their deaths'.

Mc Aleer Calls on SDLP to Clarify Position on Ex-Prisoner Discrimination

Councillor Pearse McAleer, a former political prisoner and former Chair of Cookstown District Council has called on the SDLP to in Cookstown to clarify their position following indications that the party is minded to support a bill by the TUV’s Jim Allister in regard to discrimination of former political prisoners.

The Sinn Féin councillor for the Loughshore area was a political prisoner during the 1970s and was OC of the IRA prisoners in Long Kesh where he held political status. It now looks as though the SDLP and Jim Allister want to rewrite that status.

Cllr Mc Aleer commented, “Given the history of political conflict in these islands over many generations I am deeply disappointed in the moves by the SDLP to offer cover to Jim Allister in his moves to discriminate against former prisoners. The political process that has evolved over the past twenty years has been highly successful, and credit must go to the involvement of many ex-prisoners in that process. It is a testament to the courage and leadership shown by political prisoners down through the years.

Unfortunately the SDLP now appears to want to alienate many thousands of men and women within the Nationalist community who have been incarcerated for their actions. Political discrimination of ex-prisoners must finally come to an end and we must all recognise the positive contribution that can be made to society by these men and women.

It is time now for the SDLP councillors and MLA in the Cookstown and Mid Ulster constituencies to stand up and make clear their position on this issue. Are they going to follow Alban Maginness in supporting the TUV’s goal of continuing to discrimination on our community, concluded Cllr McAleer.

Kerr calls for change of web and email addresses

A motion is due before Magherafelt council, proposed by Sinn Féin councillor Séan Kerr, calling  for the changing of the current suffix of the council website and email addresses from ‘.gov.uk’ to a ‘neutral’ address, such as ‘.org’.

Speaking on the motion Councillor Kerr said:
“I am disappointed at the negative reaction by some in council and elsewhere to this proposal. We are in a time when our political leaders are doing great work on building bridges and promoting a shared future. In Magherafelt we have seen a very positive response from the community to the proposals for a new shared space in our town centre, so why not a shared cyber-space?
 
“As a member of Sinn Féin and an Irish republican to have an email address ending in ‘.gov.uk’ does not rest easy. It needs to be highlighted, though, that we are calling for a neutral address to be used. We are not wielding our power, through being the majority in council, to force through an address that may be uncomfortable for unionist such as ‘.ie’. ‘.org’ is already in use in Moyle council where members of 3 unionist parties (UUP, DUP & TUV), as well as independent representatives seem to be operating without difficulty.
 
“DUP councillor Paul McLean has claimed that this is ‘a further erosion of British culture’ which in fact makes my own argument.  If it is viewed that the removal of the .gov.uk address is an erosion of Britishness it therefore implies that the council itself is an expression of British cullture and Britishness.  This is not the case nor should it be.  The council is an organisation made up of elected members which provides services for the people of the district.  As such it should reflect the will of all the people and not just one particular outlook.  I believe that a neutral web address such as .org is one which all should be comfortable with in that it does not reflect or promote any one particular set of values or culture.  I fail to see why anyone should object to this.”

Sinn Féin councillors concerned about rural broadband service

Magherafelt Councillors for Sinn Féin Brian Mc Guigan and Catherine Elattar recently attended a meeting in Sixtowns Community Centre, Ballinascreen to meet local residents on the issue of rural broadband. Residents from both the Sixtowns and Desertmartin areas attended the meeting to voice their dissatisfaction at the lack of broadband services in their areas.
 
Speaking after the meeting Cllr Elattar commented:
“Access to broadband in rural areas is limited and very much depends upon where you live. A lot of the discussion at this meeting was around the reliability and cost of broadband services in these areas, if in fact there is any service at all.”

Scott Mc Clelland, Managing Director of NWE Wireless Networks, was also present at the meeting to discuss the broadband services and to answer questions on the services from local residents.

Cllr Mc Guigan added:
“Computers and the internet are an integral part of most families and households these days and people living in rural areas are disadvantaged by the lack of services in their areas. We are committed to lobbying on this issue and will continue to work with our party colleagues in the Assembly to keep this issue to the fore.”