Latest news with #FeileAnPhobail
BBC News
21-07-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Féile an Phobail: Arts Council logo to be removed from west Belfast festival sports events
The Arts Council of Northern Ireland has asked Féile an Phobail to remove its logo from the festival's sports is one of the principal funders of the west Belfast move comes as the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) questioned the use of Belfast City Council funding for the festival because of a sports event named after a former IRA chief of Cahill, who died in 2004, was a key figure in founding the Provisional IRA and was Belfast commander before becoming chief of MLA David Brooks said it was "not appropriate to have an event named after an IRA terrorist". In August, two County Antrim GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) clubs will host the Joe Cahill Gaelic Competition, an event for children aged under a statement to BBC Radio Ulster's Talkback programme the Arts Council said it does not provide funding for sports events and has alerted the festival to the "incorrect use" of the Arts Council said the festival said the logo was "used in error and will be removed".Féile an Phobail is an annual event that runs across two weeks in west principal funders are Belfast City Council, The Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Tourism Northern Ireland. Brooks told Talkback that there should be "proper scrutiny in how council funding is used in relation to Féile".Belfast City Council said that Féile an Phobail had received multi-year funding which equated to £244,000 a year for four years. "The event organiser would be responsible for funding distribution towards the festival programme," the statement week a cross community sports camp in Comber, County Down, was cancelled as residents and an Orange Lodge raised concerns over the "perceived move of the GAA into the local community" and their unease at how it "celebrated or commemorated individuals associated with paramilitary activity".
BreakingNews.ie
20-06-2025
- Politics
- BreakingNews.ie
United Ireland should be new state that ‘can be better for all of us'- Varadkar
A united Ireland should not be 'annexation of six more counties' but a new state 'that can be better for all of us', a former taoiseach has said. Leo Varadkar also said he hopes the current Irish government takes the decision to establish a forum to lead discussions on unity, and also appeared to dismiss concerns of potential loyalist violence in reaction to a united Ireland. Advertisement Mr Varadkar, who stood down as taoiseach in April last year, said he believes he will see a united Ireland in his lifetime but warned it is not inevitable. He said that he has had no regrets so far since leaving elected politics, and is enjoying both 'a lot of personal and intellectual freedom to say what I think'. Former Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams listens to former taoiseach Leo Varadkar (Liam McBurney/PA) He was speaking at an In Conversation event with Rev Karen Sethuraman at St Mary's University college in west Belfast, hosted by Feile an Phobail and Ireland's Future. Former Sinn Féin president and West Belfast MP Gerry Adams was among those in the audience for the event. Advertisement Mr Varadkar stressed that a united Ireland 'has to be a new Ireland that is better for everyone'. 'That includes a bill of rights, guarantees civil protections and liberties,' he said. 'Unification, in my view, is not the annexation of six more counties by the Republic of Ireland. It's a new state and one that can be better for all of us, an opportunity that only comes around every 100 years, which is to design your state and design your constitution.' In terms of what the current Irish Taoiseach is doing, Mr Varadkar described the Shared Island Unit, which was set up when he was Taoiseach, as really positive. Advertisement But he said he would like to see the Irish Government lead a forum ahead of unity. 'Just saying it as an aspiration isn't enough anymore, it should be an objective and an objective is something you act on,' he said. 'One of the ideas that I would put forward, which could help to move on this discussion, is the establishment of some sort of forum.' He said there was the New Ireland Forum in the 1980s, and the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation in the 1990s. Advertisement Former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that there is a 'strong case' to convene the parties interested in union (Liam McBurney/PA) 'I think there is a strong case now for us to convene the parties that are interested in talking about this, unions, business groups, civil society in a forum to have that discussion, but I don't see how that can happen if that isn't led by the Irish Government, and I hope at some point during the course of this five-year government, a decision will be taken to do that,' he said. Meanwhile, asked how he felt potential violent opposition to a united Ireland could be handled, Mr Varadkar suggested he felt 'only a very small minority may turn to violence'. 'I know there are people south of the border who, when I talk to them about reunification, express to me concerns that there might be a very small minority within unionism who may turn to violence,' he said. 'I don't think we should dismiss that as a possibility. I don't think it will happen, to be honest. Advertisement 'In two referendums, both north and south, people would be very clearly giving their preference as to what should happen, it would be quite a different situation to when partition happened 100 years ago and it wasn't voted for. 'I don't think that would arise but I think it's a reasonable question.' Meanwhile, deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly suggested Mr Varadkar was 'wrong in terms of the trajectory' towards a united Ireland, insisting the number of people voting for nationalist parties, around 40%, 'hasn't moved since 1998'. Mr Varadkar said he was in politics long enough to not respond to someone else's comments without hearing them in full, but said the case he is making is not just based on the percentage of people who vote for nationalist parties, adding it is clear the percentage voting for unionist parties has fallen. Earlier, Mr Varadkar visited nearby Colaiste Feirste where he heard about the growth in Irish medium education, and plans to build a new Irish Language Heritage and Interpretive Centre, An Spas Din. School principal Micheal Mac Giolla Ghunna said: 'We have grown a vibrant Irish language community from our base in the Gaeltacht Quarter, leading to challenges for us in terms of accommodation and teacher provision. 'But far from limiting our ambitions, we are now using the Sportlann facility and initiatives like our GaelStair heritage project to offer our pupils and the wider community further opportunities.'
