HUBB visit to Inishowen

On the weekend of Friday 4th and Saturday 5th June Abhaile Aris accompanied by members of the Hubb Project from North Belfast held a very successful residential in Buncrana, Co Donegal.

Abhaile Aris is a republican ex prisoner project based in Donegal whilst the Hubb Project caters for former loyalist prisoners associated with the UVF.


Both groups have been meeting with each other for over a year now our last trip together was to Dublin where we explored the cultural and political life of the capitol and its impact on current affairs. This time we decided to visit Inishowen with its varied connections to the political and cultural life of the nation and its people.

Accompanying us in this engagement were Eamon Deane from Hollywell Trust, Mick Rafferty and Patrica Mc Kenna both of whom are from a Dublin Inner City Community Project and local historian Ronan Mc Connell we met and stayed in the Inishowen Gateway Hotel just at the entrance to Buncrana Town. On the first morning we visited the site where Wolfe Tone a United Irishman and Presbyterian had been landed by the British after his capture off the Irish coast where he was accompanying a French Frigate bringing aid to the United Irishmen in their fight against the British. The group was addressed by local historian Ronan Mc Connell who gave us a detailed account of Tones life, arrest and subsequent death in prison a few months later.

We then moved on to our next stop which was the stone erected to Trade Unionist and Buncrana native John Doherty in recognition of his lifes work on behalf of workers rights. Once again Ronan outlined the life of John Doherty how he was born and raised in Buncrana and had travelled to England for work and how he was instrumental in setting up the first Trade Union and of his life’s work of working for better pay and conditions for workers and indeed the unemployed. John Doherty was a champion for workers rights and is remembered and recognised for his trade union work across the globe.

Our next stop was Fort Dunree just a couple of miles outside of Buncrana. Fort Dunree had been a British Fort going back centuries and was in the ownership of the British until 1938 When it was handed over to the Freestate. Overlooking Lough Swilly Fort Dunree is a military museum with special emphasis on coastal artillery and the military history of the North West. It has large display of artefacts, an audio- visual display and large coastal artillery guns in their original positions. Fort Dunree now hosts rememberance Day services in memory of all Irishmen who died in the First World War. It has we believe the potential to become a more prominent player in building peace. During our visit to the site we seen the potential of both groups coming together to help with the rejuvenation of the old camp working together to help rebuild the old living quarters and turning them into a Peace and Reconciliation centre where families of ex prisoners and indeed the wider community could come together to discuss the past and work together to help build our future together. We agreed that we would seek meetings with the management of Fort Dunree to explore our ideas and proposals for the future of the Fort.

On completion of our tour of Fort Dunree we travelled on to the Famine Village at the Isle Of Doagh also in Inishowen. This is a private venture set up by a local man and which tells the story of the Famine and its consequences for the people of Ireland. It also houses a very contempory museum dating back to the famine and running up to the present day. It is a wonderful place to visit and throws up all sorts of questions to the visitor. It certainly prompted great debate and discussion amongst us during our tour of the village just like our tour of Fort Dunree did.

I have to say that all the trips we have been involved in together this by far was the best, not only did we have glorious weather for the trip but the content and political and cultural diversity that we all encountered was very revealing. Throughout the bus trip going from site to site there was constant discussion about where we had just left and the experiences we had encountered. One thing we learned is that we have a long and varied history which becomes intertwined at different junctures. Our visits together continues to throw up the unexpected which adds to our engagements and enriches our relationships. Our next engagement is to visit Carrickfergus in Northern Ireland to explore its history and to investigate its legacy we are all looking forward to it.