WE are into the last week of events at Féile an Phobail and it is another busy day on Monday.
1pm - Lenadoon Family Fun Day (Lenadoon Community Park, Lenadoon Avenue) - a free family fun day in Lenadoon Community Park, featuring inflatables, a play bus, face painting, a DJ and a range of outdoor activities and games for all ages.
1pm - Dr Eamon Phoenix Memorial History Lecture By Dr Cormac Moore (St Mary's University College) - Hard Border in Ireland: From Partition to Brexit. The lecture is given by Dr Cormac Moore, a renowned historian who has written widely on Irish History. His latest book is the Root of All Evil on the Boundary Commission. He is a well-known broadcaster and journalist and columnist for the Irish News.
1pm - Media And Culture In A New Ireland (St Mary's University College) - Public service media in Ireland is in disarray. It struggles to compete against global rivals, owned and populated by deliberately divisive and inflammatory bad-faith actors. In a united Ireland, such an environment would be disastrous for a new nation and fledgling democracy. Co-authors of a recent report, Stephen Baker and Phil Ramsey alongside Ola Majekodunmi, will discuss what a new democratic public media would mean for culture and politics on the island, and the challenges it would face.
3pm - Let's Talk Politics (St Mary's University College) - Leading political commentator and Irish News columnist David McCann will chair a discussion on the political issues of the day alongside Sarah Creighton, columnist and commentator; Chris Donnelly, commentator; and Gavan Reilly, host of Gavan Reilly Tonight (Monday 10pm, Virgin Media One) and bestselling author of The Secret Life of Leinster House.
3pm – A Continuing Crisis Of Confidence In Policing (St Mary’s University College) - 25 years on since the PSNI was established, how much has changed in terms of a new beginning to proper, independent, accountable and human rights compliant policing? When it comes to legacy, Irishness and constitutional change, is the PSNI still culturally the RUC? Can the PSNI be trusted with ensuring free and fair voting in the event of a border poll?
5pm - And Flowers Grew Up Through The Concrete (St Mary’s University College) - On 3 October 1981, after 217 days and ten deaths, the hunger strike in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh ended. What happened next? Laurence McKeown, who was on the hunger strike, will be joined in conversation by Deaglán Ó Mocháin (another former republican prisoner) to discuss how the prisoners radically changed their approach to prison struggle from the early 1980s onwards. The change in strategy and tactics did not come without its challenges and much soul-searching, but it led to many successes in subsequent years and the eventual realisation of conditions that more accurately reflected the political nature of IRA imprisonment.
5pm - Forgotten Femicide: PJ McGrory Lecture (St Mary’s University College) - With the North being one of the most dangerous places in Europe to be a woman, crime correspondent Allison Morris looks at the hidden cost of femicide and what more can be done to protect women and girls. Followed by panel talk with Declan McNally, who lost his sister Natalie in a brutal murder carried out while she was 15 weeks pregnant. He is joined by Joanne Dorrian who has campaigned tirelessly for justice for her sister Lisa, murdered and buried, her remains have never been found, she also campaigns for other missing women, including west Belfast woman Saoirse Smyth missing since April 2017. Sonya McMullan of Women’s Aid looks at the shocking statistics and asks what can policing, justice and society do collectively to end Violence Against Women and Girls.
7pm - The Union Isn't Working: How Can We Exit? (St Mary's University College) - Plaid Cymru representative Carmen Smith, Sinn Féin MP John Finucane, and SNP MP Seamus Logan will explore the opportunities and challenges facing the constitutional movements they each represent.
7pm - Alice Fresco At Bog Meadows Community Garden (Milltown Row) - A special evening with Alice McCullough as she shares a new collection of poems, stories and songs ahead of her performance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, all performed outdoors surrounded by the beautiful community garden in Bog Meadows Nature Reserve. The event will also feature musical support from John McGurgan and will conclude with tea, cake and a Q&A.
