Campaigner for Troubles victims visits Down High

Campaigner for Troubles victims visits Down High

21 December 2022

VICTIMS campaigner Kenny Donaldson was a guest at Down High School recently.

Mr Donaldson, Director of Services of the South East Fermanagh Foundation (SEFF), was the latest visitor to the school’s Current Affairs Society.

SEFF was established in 1998, on the same day as the Omagh Bombing, to advocate for the victims of violence, whether inflicted by republican terrorists, loyalist terrorists or state forces.

Mr Donaldson was accompanied by Sammy Heenan, whose father was murdered by republicans in 1985, and Ernie Wilson, a former part-time UDR soldier who was seriously injured in 1988 after the IRA detonated a bomb under the school bus he was driving in Lisnaskea, Co Fermanagh. Future DUP leader Arlene Foster was a school pupil on the bus that day.

After explaining the role of SEFF, Mr Donaldson and his colleagues answered questions from the students.

The questions ranged from proposed legislation relating to victims and other legacy issues, to whether a South African-style truth and reconciliation process could work in Northern Ireland and the ways in which victims on all sides can be remembered.

This meeting followed hot on the heels of a visit by People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll.

The leader of the DUP, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson will be the next political figure to address the society, which provides opportunities for students to listen and question figures from politics, the media and academia.