An all-party Westminster parliamentary group, which includes two former Northern Ireland Office ministers, is visiting Belfast to urge support for integrated education.
The group is for the first time joined by Senator Cecilia Keaveney of Fianna Fáil, a member of the British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body.
The British parliamentary group is led by Lord Dubs and includes former NIO Conservative minister Brian Mawhinney, a native of Northern Ireland.
The group is today visiting Hazelwood Integrated Primary School in North Belfast, to see the “peace wall” running through the grounds.
“This wall is a major symbol of Northern Ireland’s problems and shows the urgent need for actions to counter segregation and sectarianism,” Lord Dubs said.
Four held over booby-trap bomb
Four men have been arrested in different locations in Co Tyrone in connection with the suspected dissident republican booby-trap bomb attack near Castlederg, Co Tyrone on Monday that seriously wounded an off- duty Catholic police officer.
They were being questioned yesterday at the serious crime suite of Antrim PSNI station.
Amnesty hails rights motion
Amnesty International’s Irish section has welcomed the Dáil all-party motion condemning human rights violations, political violence and the stalled democratic process in Zimbabwe.
Amnesty’s Colm O’Gorman urged all TDs to support the motion, as the Government “should have the strongest possible mandate when raising these human rights concerns at an international level”. Sinn Féin TD Arthur Morgan said yesterday that “fine speeches and the passing of motions should be accompanied by actions”.
Meeting on fate of Inchicore plan
Dublin City Council officials are to hold a further meeting today or on Monday with developer Bernard McNamara over the fate of a stalled €265 million regeneration plan for St Michael’s Estate in Inchicore.
Mr McNamara is to meet his partner in the project, Castlethorn Construction, before resuming discussions with the council, both sides said after talks yesterday.
Amid fears locally that the project might not go ahead, sources said both sides were still talking, but discussions were at a sensitive stage.
Space shuttle pilot to give talk
A Nasa astronaut who piloted the space shuttle is to give a talk this evening in Limerick. Capt John McBride will discuss Nasa’s future space plans, including proposals to return to manned space flight to the Moon and then on to Mars.
His lecture takes place at the Jean Monet Theatre, University of Limerick, at 8pm.
On Thursday next, the head of the European Space Agency Astronaut Corps, Gerhard Thiele, will be in Dublin to promote the agency’s plans to recruit astronauts to fly to the International Space Station on board the space shuttle.