Pearse Doherty TD and Senator Pádraig Mac Lochlainn officially opened the Donegal Republican Centre as Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams was unable to attend as planned.
Hundreds of people gathered last night at the Bobby Sands / Eddie Fullerton Republican Centre on High Road, Letterkenny to mark the opening of Donegal Sinn Féin’s new hub.
Meanwhile, Mr. Adams was at Stormont Castle in Belfast leading Sinn Fein negotiators through continued talks to restore powersharing in Northern Ireland.
“Our Party President is the most disappointed person today that he can’t be with us,” Deputy Doherty said.
The Donegal Republican Centre marks a milestone for the party which has a membership of approximately 700 in Donegal.
Official opening of the Donegal Republican Centre, June 29th 2017. Photo: Donegal Sinn Fein
The centre is named after Donegal Councillor Eddie Fullerton, who was murdered in Buncrana in 1991, and hunger striker Bobby Sands, who died in 1981.
The family of the late Eddie Fullerton were especially welcomed on the evening. Mr Fullerton’s wife Diana was presented with a bouquet on behalf of the Republican movement in Donegal.
A focus was placed on the Tricolour raised in front of the building, which is a flag from 1922 that was laid over the coffin of IRA captain Hugh Britton.
Speaking to the crowds gathered outside the centre, Sinn Fein Finance Spokesperson Deputy Pearse Doherty said: “This centre is about more than just bricks and mortar. It is about the ideas that will flow from it, it is about the work that will take place within it. It is about how we will use this to build and transform our county, our country and deliver on our ideals.”
Pearse Doherty TD and Senator Pádraig Mac Lochlainn
Deputy Doherty said the idea to established a centre 10 years ago signaled the determination of Donegal Republicans. He thanked the ‘dreamers’ who fundraised at home and abroad to finance the centre and he thanked the committee who brought the idea to fruition.
Deputy Doherty said electoral support for Sinn Fein has reached new heights in Donegal.
“We in Sinn Fein have been to the fore in raising the issues that are most important in Donegal and indeed we know there are many many challenges here in this county. However, with the right political will none of them are insurmountable.”
He reiterated the call for designated special status for the north within the European Union to avoid potential collateral damage of Brexit in Donegal.
“Britain’s withdrawal from the EU and the possibility that the North with be dragged out of Europe against the wishes of its people have and will have devastating economic and social consequences for Donegal,” he said.
Former MP Pat Doherty, Pearse Doherty TD, former Councillor Mick Quinn and Senator Pádraig Mac Lochlainn.
Doherty said the next goal of the party in Donegal is to win back the second seat in Dáil Eireann.
“The future is ours to win and nowhere is that truer than here in Donegal,” he said.
The centre showed that the party and Republican movement was “stronger than ever before”, Doherty said.
“This Republican centre is a testament to the spirit of Republicans when they come together and dare to dream. Just as the leaders of 1916 dared to dream of a Republic that has never been given birth to yet. But we carry on in that tradition. We are today’s dreamers.”
Donegal’s Sinn Fein representatives using this centre as base and hub include Cllr Jack Murray, Senator Pádraig MacLochlainn, Cllr Liam Doherty, Cllr Gary Doherty, Cllr Noel Jordon, Cllr Marie-Therese Gallagher, Cllr Albert Doherty, Cllr Gerry McMonagle, Deputy Pearse Doherty and Cllr Adrian Glackin.
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