11 March, 2004

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Friend of Ireland honoured in London

BY FERN LANE

Photo: Gerry Kelly presents John McDonnel with a plaque

The unfailing political and personal support that Labour MP John McDonnell has given to the Irish community in Britain, and to the republican community in the Six Counties over many years, was recognised at the inaugural Wolfe Tone Society Annual Dinner Dance in Ruislip, West London, on Friday evening last.

McDonnell was presented with a Hunger Strike commemorative plaque by Gerry Kelly MLA at the event, at which the two men were guests of honour. It brought together republicans from around England and as far away as Scotland, to raise money for the forthcoming Sinn Féin electoral campaigns and for a planned respite trip, also organised by the Wolfe Tone Society. This will bring 12 children to London this summer from interface areas such as Short Strand and Ardoyne.

Addressing the gathering, Gerry Kelly congratulated the organisers on the success of the event. He recalled his own time in Wormwood Scrubs Prison in London and said that he knew from other former POWs who had been held in British jails, how vital was the support they and their families had received from republicans in England and Scotland.

He also spoke of the current difficulties in the Peace Process, particularly the crisis in the review of the Good Friday Agreement, but urged Sinn Féin supporters to keep working to ensure that the party's mandate would be increased with each forthcoming election.

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