IRA commemoration 'rubbing noses'

The commemoration is planned for the Guildhall in Derry

A row has erupted over plans to hold a commemoration for dead IRA members in the Guildhall in Londonderry.

Ulster Unionist councillor Mary Hamilton said the event makes a mockery of the idea that the Guildhall is a neutral venue.

"We've lost loved ones, and I feel that it's rubbing the noses of unionists."

But Sinn Fein assembly member Raymond McCartney defended the decision, and said the organisers had not sought any publicity for it.

"This is the 20th anniversary of this particular commemorative event, and it is being held in various locations.

"What happens every year is that the Derry volunteers who died throughout the conflict are remembered in a particular way," he said.

But councillor Hamilton said it was a "very sad time" for unionists.

"To think that the Guildhall, our Guildhall, can be used to commemorate the lives of ones that have been killed when we have lost loved ones ourselves," she said.

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