A group from the Irish Republican Prisoners’ Welfare Association attended a meeting in the European Parliament building organised by MEP Clare Daly to discuss the harassment of political prisoners.
One of the group, who is facing charges in connection with a dissident republican parade, had been given permission by a District judge to travel to attend the meeting in Brussels. Patrick Gallagher (31), of Raftery Close, Derry, is facing charges of encouraging and inciting support for a proscribed organisation, namely the IRA, on April 10th, 2023, as well as organising a meeting to encourage support for a proscribed organisation.
Mr Gallagher was one of five people involved with the prisoners’ association attending the European Parliament meeting hosted by Ms Daly, according to an invite for the event circulated to MEPs.
Brian Kenna, who was previously convicted of IRA membership and is a senior figure in dissident republican group Saoradh, was among the group attending the event, along with three others, according to the invite for the meeting. At a court hearing in Northern Ireland last month Mr Gallagher’s solicitor successfully sought to have his bail conditions amended to allow him to attend the meeting.
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The event, which was not open to the media, took place in a small meeting room in the parliament building. The invite stated the topic of the talk was the role of security services in “violating” the civil rights of “Irish political prisoners”. It said the event would be of interest “to all those working in the field of the intersection of state security and civil liberties”.
In response to queries Ms Daly said the attendees of the meeting were representatives of the republican prisoners’ welfare association, which she said was “non-political”.
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