OWEN Carron, a former Fermanagh-south Tyrone MP, will be the guest speaker at a Sinn Fein hungerstrike lecture tomorrow night (Friday) in Ballyconnell, Co. Cavan.
Mr. Carron, who was arrested in 1986 after an AK-47 was allegedly found in a car he was in, has been living in the south ever since after fleeing across the Border.
Sinn Fein says he will provide a “unique insight” into that period and is expected to discuss his time as the election agent to Bobby Sands, who was elected MP for Fermanagh-south Tyrone in 1981 with 30,493 votes.
Soon after the election, Mr. Sands died in the Maze prison following 66 days on hungerstrike. Mr. Carron from Macken delivered the oration at his funeral and helped to carry his coffin. He stood in the August by-election following Mr Sands’ death and won, defeating new Unionist candidate, Ken Maginnis.
Síle Darragh, a former IRA Officer Commanding (OC), will also speak at the event on the legacy of the hungerstrike.
The event in Ballyconnell Community Centre begins at 8pm and takes place a week before the party’s controversial hungerstrike parade in Derrylin.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here