9 December 2004 Edition
Prisoner community's story of conflict - Donegal project launches video
A large gathering of around 200 people were in the Holiday Inn, Letterkenny, on Tuesday evening 30 November for the launch of a video documenting stories from republican ex-prisoners and displaced people living in Donegal.
The video, entitled Ár Scéal (Our Story) has been produced by Abhaile Arís, the project working with republican ex-prisoners and displaced people in the county. The video was formally launched by Mike Ritchie, the co-ordinator of the national umbrella group for republican ex-prisoner groups, Coiste na n-Iarchimí.
Abhaile Arís project coordinator, Anne Marie Blair, said the video is "part of a new phase in the evolution of our project, one that will see the story of republican ex-prisoners and displaced people told to the wider community.
"For the last number of years, we in Abhaile Arís have been quite inward looking in terms of the needs of the republican ex prisoner and displaced community," she explained. "As the peace process has gradually stabilised, much of the trauma and grief endured by republican ex-prisoners, displaced people, and their families has at last began to be addressed. Their stories are stories of conflict, of ordinary people caught up in extraordinary circumstances. Our outreach workers, Gerry McMonagle and Peter Ogle, have been overwhelmed in the last number of years in their work and many of these families have received 'listening ear' services and subsequently more focused counselling services.
"It would be fair to say that when our management committee applied for funding initially, they underestimated the extent of trauma and hurt that existed. We had conducted an extensive questionnaire/survey to analyse the needs of the republican ex-prisoner and displaced community. There are around 160 people directly affected. When families are added, the total target group of our project would be around 600. The survey showed a community that had suffered from harassment and discrimination on both sides of the border because of their political objectives. We then devised a plan to assist this community with education, training, counselling, info and advice, and advocacy, that thankfully has been supported by the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation and the National Development Plan."
The video, lasting around 30 minutes, is a documentary of seven remarkable stories that, while individual stories, are representative of the collective experiences of the community the group works with.
"We had recorded the stories of over 40 individuals in total for archive purposes but have used seven examples for this video," said Anne Marie. "The video tells the story of men and women caught up in struggle."
Included are Johnny Walker of the Birmingham Six; Hugh Doherty, captured during the famous Balcombe Street siege and imprisoned for 24 years; Tony Kelly, one of the 38 prisoners who escaped from Long Kesh in the famous breakout in 1983; Marion Kelly, who was displaced from her home town of Dungiven; Una Eakin, whose late husband, Gerard Casey, was shot dead beside her in their bed by unionist paramilitaries; Jim Boyle, whose young daughter died while he was imprisoned in Portlaoise; and Mary McLaughlin, whose late husband Reamonn was imprisoned in English jails for ten years.
"The video is an important historical record of one community's story of conflict," said Anne Marie. "We hope that as many members of the wider community as possible will get to view it."