The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney, will be the guest speaker at this Thursday’s Aisling Awards. To watch the event live, you need to register online — deli hampers are being dispatched to the nominees and the Aisling audience across Belfast to mark the occasion. The 24th Annual Virtual Aisling Awards this year will honour the Unsung Heroes of the Pandemic and will be broadcast live into homes across Belfast from 7pm on Thursday 10 December with compere Barra Best. The awards will honour our brightest and best in education, sport, the arts, Gaeilge, community and business in what was a most challenging of years – and look out for our special Urban Villages People’s Choice Award. Simon Coveney – who is currently keeping abreast of trade talks between the EU and UK – joins a long list of previous guest speakers at the awards night, that includes Presidents of Ireland Michael D Higgins and Mary McAleese, Taoiseach Enda Kenny, John Hume, Martin McGuinness and Black Civil Rights leader Rev Jesse Jackson. The Deputy Leader of Fine Gael, Mr Coveney was previously Tánaiste, and Minister for Agriculture. He led the Irish government in the talks to re-establish the power-sharing executive at Stormont last year. Speaking last week before the British government rejected calls for an independent public inquiry into the 1989 murder of solicitor Pat Finucane, he said an inquiry would represent a “big step forward” in addressing the past in the North of Ireland. The Aisling Awards will be broadcast between 7-9pm on Thursday 10 December. You can join in the fun at home by registering to 'attend' via the Aisling banner at belfastmedia.com.
