Campbell slams Guildhall IRA event
The DUP’s Gregory Campbell has reacted angrily to plans to hold an event commemorating IRA members who died during the Troubles in Derry’s Guildhall.
It was announced on Sunday that the annual Derry Volunteers Commemoration Dance is set to be held in the Guildhall in October, however Alderman Campbell described the move as “inappropriate” and said it will not be well received in the Protestant community.
Plans to hold the event in the Guildhall, which was attacked on a number of occasions during the IRA’s bombing campaign, were revealed on Sunday afternoon at the annual Derry Brigade Volunteers Commemoration at the City Cemetery.
‘Inappropriate’
Alderman Campbell said: It’s inappropriate to commemorate events like this anywhere but it is particularly inappropriate in the seat of civic authority.
“Those who are organising this should be in the business of apologising, not commemorating.
“Commemorating events that involved IRA personnel murdering innocent people is not something that is worthy of a commemoration or dinner or any other event in a civic centre.”
The East Derry MP said the event will do little to assuage Protestant feelings of alienation in the city. “It will go down very badly in the Protestant community because people will see it as Sinn Féin still not completely disengaging themselves from their bloody and gory past.
“Many in the community will see it as them trying to recapture some of what the movement was engaged in the past, even though politically they have moved beyond it,” he said.
A spokesperson for Derry City Council said: “The Guildhall is run on a commercial basis and is therefore available for general hire.
“The Guildhall is available to all communities and cultural traditions including political and religious groupings.”
