A war of words has erupted between two local community representatives over an upcoming concert at a hotel in County Tyrone.

Eimhear Ní Ghlacain, who also goes by the name of Eimhear Rebel and sings Irish Rebel songs is scheduled to play at the Mellon Country Inn outside Omagh on September 19.

This has led to victims group, South East Fermanagh Foundation (SEFF) Director of Services Kenny Donaldson to say the music “eulogises and romanticises terrorism”.

Mr. Donaldson said the group had been contacted by victims complaining about the upcoming concert.

In a statement Mr. Donaldson said: “Daily we see attempts to normalise and integrate republican rebel music as being somehow an acceptable expression of cultural identity – it is not.

“For those who have been the innocents amid IRA terrorism, daily there’s insult after insult fired at them. To those who are planning to attend this gathering we’d ask: catch a grip and have some consideration for your neighbours and what they’ve been put through and continue to go through as a result of those courageous ‘Republican Volunteers’ you sing about.”

In response, Sinn Féin Councillor, Chris McCaffrey, posted on Facebook calling Mr. Donaldson a “professional whinge-bag” who is harassing Ms. Ní Ghlacain.

“No amount of intimidation from Kenny or his ilk will stop republicans remembering our fallen heroes through song,” the post read.

Councillor McCaffrey also shares a link to the Rebel Song, Loughall Martyrs dedicating it to Mr. Donaldson.

Councillor McCaffrey stood by his comments when contacted by The Impartial Reporter, saying: “I felt the comments were completely unfair and unjustifiable. For him to be essentially picking on a young woman for whom music is their career, it is a form of bullying.

“There can be no hierarchy of tradition or culture on this island. Both sides of the political divide have a right to commemorate their dead and in our case to certainly remember our fallen comrades through song.”

He said that the comments were a “one sided attack” from Mr. Donaldson and described them as “regressive”.

“I don’t want to be insensitive in what were real experiences and of course there are victims of The Troubles on both sides of the community and that unfortunately was part of the conflict.

“I just didn’t understand why he wanted to make those comments. He was saying there were complaints from victims and I understand they are not necessarily going to accept these songs. We don’t have to accept their narrative but there has to be some mutual understanding in the spirit of reconciliation that we can move forward and these types of arguments shouldn’t be dragging us back so I felt it was regressive for him to be making these kind of remarks.”

Reacting to the Facebook post, Mr. Donaldson responded by asking the Sinn Féin leadership: “Is this indicative of where today’s generation of your representatives and supporters are at?”

“An ideology which reveres those who ‘died for Ireland’ but which fails to set out a vision and a commitment to bring about the unity of the living is deeply dangerous. Cllr Mac Cafraidh (sic) alleges that I am guilty of “harassing a young republican woman for singing rebel songs and that my challenge of her denotes “intimidation”. This is a strange understanding what harassment and intimidation are. Challenging the playing of rebel songs which glorify violence, which romanticise death and which encourage the perpetuation of division within our community, and doing so in an open and transparent way, is hardly harassment and intimidation.”

“Chris goadingly dedicates a verse of a rebel song written in the aftermath of Loughgall to me. Let’s be clear; eight systemic terrorists died that day and one civilian. Do I rejoice in the deaths of those terrorists? No, they were further Irish lives which were wasted. For me and SEFF, all life matters,” said Mr. Donaldson.