DONEGAL Action on Cancer Care and leading members of anti-Government groups have quit an umbrella organisation after the protests outside Loreto Community School in Milford this week.
DACC Spokeswoman Betty Holmes said they took the decision after members of Donegal Action Against Austerity took actions ‘against our ethos’.
DAAA has been at the centre of a shambolic attempt to distance itself from the protest which took place at the Co Donegal during a visit by the Taoiseach.
DAAA said its members hadn’t taken part in the demonstration which many students and parents at the school objected to.
But members of the organisation – some wearing official DAAA garments – were there.
The spokesman who denied DAAA’s involvement has also now quit the group. He has yet to withdraw his denial statement.
Instead Ryan Stewart issued a joint ‘quit’ statement with John McLaughlin and Trevor Kilpatrick.
It reads: Following on-going concerns over the motives of individuals within DAAA, we have felt that we have had no other option than to walk away from the group.
“We had decided as a group, that we would not take part in any protest in Milford on the occasion of the visit of the Taoiseach, out of respect for the students and their remarkable achievement. We have since learned that Joseph Murphy and a few other members, decided to organise a protest on their own, without the consent or knowledge of the group, and we find this unacceptable. This is not the first time, and as a result of their refusal to adhere to the consensus of the group, the majority have decided to leave them to it.
“Donegal Action Against Austerity was never about being an out-and-out protest group. All of us have worked extremely hard, and given up valuable time campaigning against austerity measures, getting information out into the public domain, opening doors to get access to those in power, and put the ordinary person’s views on the table.”
The statement made a number of other claims which we cannot publish for legal reasons.
Betty Holmes statement can be read here:
