Féile an Phobail

Féile an Phobail (The Community's Festival), also known as the West Belfast Festival is a community arts organisation known for its August Féile (Festival). The organisation is prominent for its promotion of Irish and international culture. The festival takes place on and around Falls Road in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

History

Foundations

The festival was established in 1988 as a direct response to the Troubles, and specifically after the events of March 1988. The Special Air Service killed three Provisional Irish Republican Army members in Gibraltar. At one of the funerals of the three, an Ulster loyalist paramilitary attacked the funeral with grenades and pistols, killing three mourners (see Milltown Cemetery attack). At the funeral of one of the mourners, two plainclothes British servicemen were killed when they drove into a funeral procession (see Corporals killings). The community of west Belfast came under intense media scrutiny and was described by the British Broadcasting Corporation as a "terrorist community".

Belfast West

Belfast West can refer to:

Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin (/ʃɪn ˈfeɪn/ shin-FAYNIrish pronunciation: [ʃɪnʲ ˈfʲeːnʲ]) is an Irish republican political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970 after a split within the party (the other party became the Workers' Party of Ireland), and has been historically associated with the IRA.Gerry Adams has been party president since 1983.

Sinn Féin is currently the second-largest party behind the Democratic Unionist Party in the Northern Ireland Assembly, where it has four ministerial posts in the power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive, and the fourth-largest party in the Oireachtas, the parliament of the Republic. Sinn Féin also received the second highest number of Northern Ireland votes and seats in the 2015 Westminster elections, behind the DUP.

Belfast

Coordinates: 54°35′49″N 5°55′48″W / 54.597°N 5.930°W / 54.597; -5.930

Belfast (/ˈbɛl.fɑːst/ or /ˈbɛl.fæst/; from Irish: Béal Feirste, meaning "mouth of the sandbanks") is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland. Most of Belfast, including the city centre, is in County Antrim, but parts of East and South Belfast are in County Down. It is on the flood plain of the River Lagan. The city's motto is Pro Tanto Quid Retribuamus (roughly Latin for "what shall we give in return for so much").

By population before the 2015 council reform, Belfast was the 17th largest city in the United Kingdom and the second largest on the island of Ireland. It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly. At the time of the 2011 census, the city of Belfast had a population of 286,000. With the 2015 council reform it is 333,871 and lies at the heart of the Belfast Urban area, which has a population of 483,418 and the Belfast Metropolitan Area, which had a population of 579,276 at the 2001 census. The larger urban zone, as defined by the European Union, had an estimated total population of 673,000 on 1 January 2012. Belfast was granted city status in 1888.

Michelle O'Neill

Michelle O'Neill MLA (born 19 January 1977) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician who has represented Mid Ulster in the Northern Ireland Assembly since 2007. She currently is the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development in the Northern Ireland Executive.

Early career

O'Neill represented the Torrent electoral area on Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council from 2005 to 2011 and was Mayor of Dungannon and South Tyrone in 2010. Previously, in the Northern Ireland Assembly, O'Neill was the Deputy Chair of the Health Committee and she has spoken on issues such as rural school closures, which she opposed.

Department of Rural Development

In September 2012, O'Neill announced that the Department of Rural Development (DARD) would move to a former British Army barracks in Ballykelly. Following the announcement, it came to light that Strabane had been chosen as a more suitable location by an internal DARD assessment, a decision that O'Neill then overruled. In February 2013, it was also revealed that the decision had been questioned by the finance minister Sammy Wilson.