Garvaghy Road women in West
The murder of Rosemary Nelson will shock most people in Ireland, and
among those will be the various groups in the West of Ireland who
last week met with a delegation of four women from the Garvaghy Road
to learn at first hand the trauma of the families and women in the
ongoing siege.
The women spent two days in Galway City and in Gort and spoke at both
private meetings with women's' groups and at well attended public
meetings on the theme `Living with Drumcree'.
On Tuesday the delegation was met by local Sinn Féin Representative
Vincent Forde and introduced to women from the Westside Resource
group. On Wednesday, after separating into two groups, some of the
women travelled to Gort where they met with the local press. In the
afternoon they travelled to Clare for a radio program and in the
evening spoke to a public meeting chaired by Michael Loughrey, Sinn
Féin's local spokesperson.
The Galway group, meanwhile, were carrying out a series of meetings,
including press briefings, a live interview on local radio, and two
further meetings with local women's' initiatives from different parts
of the city.
On Wednesday evening the Galway part of the delegation spoke in NUI,
Galway, as guests of the Political Discussion Society. The meeting
was highly informative, and attended by both students and visitors
from the wider community. The meeting passed a unanimous resolution
pledging the `active support' of the PDS to the Garvaghy Road
residents in their resistance to the Orange marches through their
area.
A number of useful contacts were made during the two days and the
delegation expressed themselves satisfied that support from the west
will be forthcoming should the contacts be developed.
Meanwhile Sinn Fein's Anne Speed has said that, ``the ruthless
assassination of Rosemary Nelson was perhaps chillingly forseen last
week when women residents of the Garvaghy Road addressed a packed
public meeting in Dublin's Liberty Hall and spoke of the loyalist
intimidation and ongoing siege of their community''.
Sinn Fein Women's Forum hosted a two day visit to Dublin.
Some 7,000 nationalist residents have been denied justice and human
rights by the intransigent Orange Order.
Pressing home the themes of inequality and civil rights Garvaghy
Residents spokespersons Orla Maloney, Donna Griffin, Joanna Tennyson
and Evelyn White also met with executive members of the Women's
National Council and the Private Sector Regional Executive Committee
of SIPTU. Later the women met Marian McGennis TD chair of the Fianna
Fáil Women's Forum who was accompanied by colleague Beverly
Cooper-Flynn and Celia Keaveney.
informal discussion also took place with Minister for Foreign
Affairs David Andrews
The Garvaghy women invited a cross party delegation of women TDs to
visit their community, so far the Fianna Fáil women have accepted.
![[An Phoblacht]](http://republican-news.org/graphics/title_gifs/aprn.gif)