Hopes for a better future by the lough shores

IT'S the eel fishing season at the moment, so the fishermen are busy on Lough Neagh. But local SDLP stalwart and election candidate, Patsy McGlone, reckons that the Lough Neagh fishing community in east Tyrone is the most politically aware in Northern Ireland.

"People on the lough shore know the importance of elections and, whatever about the rest of the North, apathy won't be a problem here", he says. "In the last local elections the turnout at 8 p.m. was 70 per cent, but at closing time, two hours later it was 87 per cent. The fishermen left the lough, drove straight to the polling station and cast their votes, the water still dripping off their wellington boots."

Seamus Campbell, a member of Sinn Fein, says that the local people, whether fans of Gerry Adams Mr John Hume, know how vital it is to get the vote out. "The British government and the unionists would like to close the door on us, but if we get our vote they can't say we don't exist", says Seamus, a retired fisherman.

He, says that it's not for him to predict whether or not there wilt be a ceasefire. But he is prepared to predict that the republican movement will achieve its goals. "We've come a long way and we are not turning back. There's a long road ahead, but we'll, get there. We have the patience."

This area of east Tyrone has suffered much in the Troubles. The IRA has been very active. Some notorious loyalist paramilitaries have targeted the lough shore to exact murder and revenge. The British army has been heavy handed at times in policing the area.

Teddy Hagan, an Ardboe man, was a prime mover behind the newly built Kinturk Cultural Centre, situated close to the lough shore. Negotiations, not another election, are the key to a settlement, he believes. "People have to start talking, and keep talking until they solve this thing, otherwise they will only be going backwards."

The cultural centre doubles as a local community facility. While Ardboe (pronounced Arboe) is predominantly nationalist, it has been attracting Protestants to some of the quizzes, card drives and dances. "That's a good thing", says Teddy. "That's the way it should be."

The original sod cutting for the centre was done by Sam Glasgow, the Ulster Unionist Party chairman of Cookstown District Council, and the late Paddy Duffy, of the SDLP, in the company of Baroness Denton, the Economy Minister. "When we were cutting the sod, Paddy and I joked to the Baroness that we dug with different feet", says Sam.

It was a significant breakthrough to have a unionist councillor and a Northern Ireland Office Minister present at the ceremony without major republican protest or disruption. The ceasefire accounted for that.

Sam is positive about the future. "I would hope that the election will go well for all of us and that it will help lead to a settlement. I think there will be a ceasefire and I think Sinn Fein will be at the talks", he says.

Seamus Heaney may be a native of neighbouring Co Derry, but he is viewed as an honorary son of Ardboe through his marriage to local woman Marie Devlin. He has written widely of the area, about the eel fishermen and about lough lore.