Sinn Féin Summer School – Eamon Dunphy, Basil McCrea, Alison O’Connor and Seán Óg Ó hAilpin

Opening by Pearse Doherty TD – Special guest speaker Eamon Dunphy

THERE’S BOUND to be fireworks at the 4th Annual Sinn Féin Summer School in County Cork at the end of this month with controversial and outspoken commentators such as Eamon Dunphy, Guardian columnist Roy Greenslade, Irish Independent columnist Alison O’Connor, GAA star Seán Óg Ó hAilpin, and 2012 Young Person of the Year and disability rights campaigner Joanne O’Riordan taking part.

Basil McCrea MLA (right), leader of the new pro-Union NI21 party, will go head-to-head in a debate with Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald TD on ‘Is it time for a Border Poll on Irish unity as provided for in the Good Friday Agreement?’

Seán Óg Ó hAilpin, the Cork hurling and football star of Irish and Fijian heritage, will be the keynote speaker on ‘Culture, language and identity’. 

Roy Greenslade – regular commentator on RTÉ’s Drivetime and Newstalk after attending the Leveson judicial public inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the British press following the News International phone hacking scandal – will be the key speaker on ‘Media ownership – does it matter?’

Emigration and its effects on society are covered in the session ‘Emigration – 90 years of complacency?’ with speakers Dr Piarais MacEinrí from University College Cork and Marie-Claire McAleer, Senior Research and Policy Officer with the National Youth Council of Ireland.

Orla Kelly from Early Childhood Creativity will speak on ‘Why creativity in education matters’.

Movie historian Professor Kevin Rockett – School of Drama, Film & Music at Trinity College Dublin and author, co-author or editor of numerous books, including Cinema and Ireland (1987) – will give his take on ‘Irish historical films made during the 1910s’.

‘Subversive artist’ and Phantom 1052 DJ Will St Leger is sure to stimulate the imagination speaking on ‘The role that art can play in bringing about social and political change’. Will has made headlines by placing 100 fake ‘landmines’ made from stenciled enamel plates in five parks around Dublin to bring home what other people have to live with every day. Another was the ‘Bertie Cash Giveaway’ at the Molly Malone statue in Grafton Street.

Book by contacting DJ O’Driscoll at 087 743 5064 or mailto: [email protected]

4th Annual Sinn Féin Summer School

Mills Inn, Baile Mhuirne, Co Cork

Friday & Saturday, 28 & 29 June

Friday from 6:30pm

Opening: Pearse Doherty TD

Special guest speaker: Eamon Dunphy

Disability and identity – Joanne O’Riordan

Culture, language and identity – Seán Óg Ó hAilpin  (Cork hurling and football GAA star of Irish and Fijian heritage)

Saturday 11am

‘Is it time for a border poll on Irish Unity as provided for in the GFA?’ Mary Lou McDonald TD (Sinn Féin) and Basil McCrea MLA (NI21)

1pm to 2pm Lunch break

Saturday 2pm

‘Irish historical films made during the 1910s’ – Professor Kevin Rockett, School of Drama, Film & Music, Trinity College Dublin

‘Why creativity in education matters’ – Orla Kelly from Early Childhood Creativity’

‘The role that art can play in bringing about social and political change’ – artist Will St Leger

Saturday 3:30pm

‘Emigration – 90 years of complacency?’ – Dr Piarais MacEinrí from UCC, and Marie-Claire McAleer, Senior Research and Policy Officer with NYCI

Saturday 4:30pm

‘Media ownership – does it matter?’ – Guardian columnist and Professor of Journalism at London City University Roy Greenslade, and Irish Independent columnist Alison O’Connor

Saturday 6:30pm

Closing Address: Agriculture Minister Michelle O’Neill MLA