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Unionist to address Sinn Féin ardfheis
The father of a man murdered by a loyalist gang will today become the first person from a unionist background to address Sinn Féin's annual ardfheis.
Raymond McCord, whose son Raymond was murdered by an Ulster Volunteer Force gang, will address Sinn Féin members in Dublin on the issue of security force collusion.
A report last year by former Northern Ireland Police ombudsman Nuala O'Loan alleged Royal Ulster Constabulary Special Branch officers running informers in the gang, based in north Belfast, allowed it to kill over a dozen people including Raymond McCord jnr.
Mr McCord challenged the Rev Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionists and the UVF-linked Progressive Unionist Party to offer him the same platform to discuss collusion at their party conferences.
"My politics and Sinn Féin's politics are vastly different," he said. "I am not going down to this conference to appease Sinn Féin. However I will use whatever platform I am given to raise the issue of security force collusion."
Sinn Féin's annual conference will take place against the backdrop of the party's participation in government in Northern Ireland but disappointing performance in the Republic's election last year.
Stormont Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness will brief delegates on his work in the power-sharing executive alongside the Rev Ian Paisley and the party's campaign for Irish reunification.
Mary Lou McDonald will also deliver an address on the party's opposition to the European Union's Lisbon Treaty in the forthcoming referendum.
PA
© 2008 ireland.com
