SF leadership hold public meeting for North and East Antrim districts

The panel attending to take questions from the audience is Gerry Adams, Bairbre de Brn, Daith McKay (pictured) and Oliver McMullan.

It is one of 10 such meetings that are taking place across the six counties over the next two weeks and is open to any member of the public from the North and East Antrim constituencies.

On launching the meetings Alex Maskey MLA said: “Since the political institutions were re-established after the successful negotiation at St. Andrews Sinn Fin have annually hosted large public meetings for the general public across the six counties. We are the only party who do this as a matter of course.

“It is a vital part of our Ministers and Assembly members being accountable to the communities we are elected to serve. These meetings are an opportunity for the public to put their issues directly onto the Executive table,” he said.

“As we face into this Westminster election campaign, this run of public meetings will provide an opportunity for the public to engage with the Sinn Fin leadership and more importantly an opportunity for us to engage with the public. Sinn Fin never take the electorate for granted and we are part of the community we represent. That is why we see these engagements as so important.

“These meetings will be the first since the conclusion of the negotiations at Hillsborough and come after the transfer of powers on policing and justice,” said Mr Maskey.

“There is no substitute for local politicians engaging with local people and these meetings will form a central part of our ability to get our message directly across to the electorate in the coming weeks,” he said.