War protesters heckle Ahern as city reaps peace dividend
TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern was jeered yesterday on the streets of Derry -- not by loyalists, but by anti-war protesters.
There were minor scuffles with PSNI officers and rhyming chants of "No war, no blood for oil, no US bombers on our soil" from less than a dozen protesters.
He got a warmer welcome from the nationalist and unionist members of Derry City Council who had assembled in the Guildhall to greet him.
In his address, he acknowledged the "painful history" of the city, which ranges from the 105-day siege of its mainly Protestant inhabitants in 1688 to the shooting dead of 14 unarmed people on Bloody Sunday in 1972.
But he focused on the positive developments in the city and the North in general since the resumption of the Assembly last May.
Exciting
"We are living in very exciting times which many of us thought might never arrive," he said.
Mr Ahern was making his first visit to the city in several years to meet with business, tourism and political figures.
Among those in attendance at the neo-gothic Guildhall building -- which was once bombed by the IRA and later used as the venue for Lord Saville's inquiry into Bloody Sunday -- were the North's deputy first minister Martin McGuinness, SDLP leader Mark Durkan and his predecessor, the Nobel prize winner John Hume.
"It's very good for the Taoiseach to come to Derry and he's very warmly welcomed by the entire city," Mr Hume said.
He added that he was very optimistic about the political progress that had been made in the North.
"All sections of our people are working together in their common interest. The more we do that, the more we will break down the barriers of the past and a whole new society and a new Ireland will develop."
Mr Ahern paid a short visit to Derry's Tower museum, which tells the story of its city walls. He also went to visit the Foyle hospice, which was founded by a Donegal doctor at the height of the Troubles on a cross-border, cross-community basis. One of its volunteers, Paddy Ferry, said it was one of the best-known facilities in the city.
"Thank God for it. They don't ask you if you're black, white, green or blue, if you're a millionaire or a pauper, they'll take you in and treat you the same."
- Michael Brennan Political Correspondent
