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<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cWe met with Sean\u2019s widow Bridie. We met his daughters Clare [Loughran] and Siobhan. We met one of Sean\u2019s brothers. There were other relatives at the meeting too,\u201d said Mr Galvin.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe local MP Cathal Mallaghan (Sinn F\u00e9in), Mid Ulster councillor Denise Johnston (SDLP) and Alan Brecknell from the Pat Finucane Centre, which has supported the Brown family, were also present,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe case of Sean Brown is so important and it is so moving,\u201d said Martin Clavin. \u201cHere is somebody, just a GAA official who was targeted, abducted, driven past an RUC \/ British Army barracks, no problem at all, and killed.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd not only does the British Government not want his family to get a public inquiry, it is afraid of the Brown family getting even a gist of the truth of the circumstances of Sean\u2019s murder.<\/p>\n
\u201cA coroner has already read that there were British agents involved, and if it doesn\u2019t give the Brown family a gist of the truth, what does that say for all of the hundreds of other families who want to get truth and justice?<\/p>\n
\u201cHow then is the British Government going to interpret the new framework, the new legislation it is bringing forward?<\/p>\n
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The Mayor\u00a0 Ruairi McHugh and Councillor Aisling Hutton met the group ,the Mayor made a presentation \u00a0to Kathleen Savage (third from the left )who has travelled to Ireland and Derry for the past 41 years and is celebrating her 80th\u00a0birthday this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can we be confident we will get justice if they won\u2019t even give it to a family like the Browns?\u201d said Mr Galvin.
The new framework to which Mr Galvin referred is the British Labour Government\u2019s plan to replace the controversial NI Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023 with new legislation. This will repeal the conditional amnesty for Trouble-related crimes, reform the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) and strengthen information-sharing with authorities in the Republic of Ireland.<\/p>\n
Mr Galvin said the AOH could bring pressure to bear on the British Government about the need for a public inquiry into Sean Brown\u2019s murder.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have already spoken to Hilary Benn [British Secretary of State] directly,\u201d he explained, \u201cand we regularly meet with members of Congress who have written about the Brown family and other legacy cases.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are also meeting with the Department of Foreign Affairs and TDs Leinster House TDs next week.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe intend, as often as it takes, in America to let the British hear from as many places as possible that we are watching, and Congress is watching, and the Irish Government is watching, and they cannot deny justice to the Browns. They are not going to get away with it,\u201d said Mr Galvin.<\/p>\n
On Monday evening, the AOH Freedom For All Ireland division members met with Foyle MP Colum Eastwood (SDLP).<\/p>\n
\u201cWe received a very good presentation from Colum Eastwood on Irish Unity,\u201d said Mr Galvin.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe thinks the English will, eventually, want to leave the North and will call a referendum [Border Poll] to facilitate Irish Unity,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cColum Eastwood also talked about the need for the Brown family to receive justice. Just as right from the very start, the Bloody Sunday families had to fight for justice, the Brown family are the ones doing it now, as so many families have had to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Galvin added that the AOH Freedom For All Ireland Hibernians were fully supportive of a Border Poll.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur position on the Border Poll is that we have been for the Freedom For All Ireland since we were established in 1936. At that time it was all of Ireland, now we are down to the remaining Six Counties.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are going to push for a Border Poll. The British pay attention to American opinion, to Congressional opinion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have members in all 50 states. We have thousands and thousands of members. They will push their individual representatives.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn terms of legacy, we do educational programmes. We have had the Brown family on a webinar. We had people who met with them yesterday who will go back to 14 different states and talk about what they have heard and seen.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will talk to everyone possible. When the Irish Government comes to the States to meet with Irish America, it meets with us.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will demand that the Department of Foreign Affairs puts pressure on the British Government. It has a new agreement. It said it was going to use the new legislation to provide justice. Let\u2019s make sure they live up to that agreement unlike virtually every agreement the British have made with the Irish in the past,\u201d said Mr Galvin.<\/p>\n
Acknowledging the Hibernian longstanding relationship with Derry, Mr Galvin said they were \u201cgrateful and inspired\u201d by people like the Bogside Artists, the members of the Martin McGuinness Foundation and the Museum of Free Derry organisation during their visit to Derry.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are very proud of the fact that the AOH supports the work of the Bogside Artists and the People\u2019s Gallery. In 1836, when the AOH was founded we were for Freedom For All Ireland and we intend to continue until we see it,\u201d said Mr Galvin.<\/p>\n
The Hibernians also met with AOH member Matt Morrison, whose wife is an officer in the Ladies AOH.<\/p>\n
A former prisoner, Mr Morrison was a longtime resident in the United States self-deported back to Derry in case he was arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.<\/p>\n
\u201cMatt is somebody everybody respects,\u201d said Mr Galvin. \u201cHe has been a great influence within the AOH in America and we have a lot of people looking forward to meeting him here today, hearing from and continuing to support him in any way we can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking after the meeting with the Hibernians in Bellaghy, Cathal Mallaghan MP said the only \u201cviable and human rights-compliant way to achieve truth and justice for the family of Sean Brown\u201d was through a \u201cfully independent public inquiry\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe urged [the members of the Ancient Order of the Hibernians] to write and speak to their Members of Congress and Senators to use their influence to put pressure on the British Government to do the right thing and allow the truth about Sean Brown\u2019s killing to be told,\u201d added Mr Mallaghan.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Bridie Brown next attends the court, it will be her sixtieth time. It is beyond time the British Government ended its cruel campaign of delay and denial, which shows a shocking level of contempt and disrespect for the Brown family.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe courts have been clear; the only viable, human rights-compliant way to achieve truth and justice is through a fully independent public enquiry.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Sean Brown case and the need for a Border Poll on Irish Unity were the key issues…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404417,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[7726,17201,83015,61,60,43,812],"class_list":["post-404416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-derry","tag-derry-news","tag-derry-post","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=404416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}