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City Council Candidate in Community Clarion Call
6th January 2011
Media entrepreneur, Martin O Muilleoir, was the first high profile visitor to the Suffolk Lenadoon Interface Group (SLIG) of 2011.
SLIG Strategic Development Manager, Harry Maher met Martin O Muilleoir, who is the Sinn Féin candidate for the Balmoral area in the 2011 Council elections, at the SLIG offices on 5 January. In a conversation which also included another major media figure, Nick Garbut, a wide-range of issues that have an impact on the community sector were broached.
Nick Garbutt works closely with SLIG and is currently working on a major project aimed at explaining SLIG’s work, plans and recollections.
Martin O Muilleoir was upbeat after his SLIG encounter. In his blog he talked about his “good fortune” to see at first-hand what is happening at SLIG and its partner organisation, the Stewartstown Road Regeneration Project. His impressions and reflections are worth noting:
“The meeting took place in what is effectively a peace-line separating Lenadoon and Suffolk. There is an entrance to the offices from the Stewartstown Road (Lenadoon) side and from the Suffolk Estate side. I wonder will we ever reach the day when we can replace all our peace-lines with community offices and facilities like this? I travel in hope so I believe that day will come.”
He also cited Nick Garbutt’s argument, “that this is the most successful intercommunity project in Belfast and it would be hard to argue against that.”
Defending “community infrastructure” in the midst of the cuts being rolled out was Martin O Muilleoir’s clarion call in the wake of the conversation.