One year on from the restoration of the political institutions and 10 years after the Good Friday Agreement Sinn Féin will be holding nine public meetings across the six counties to mark these historic events.
The second of these public meetings will be held at Fountain Street Community Centre in Strabane at 8pm on Sunday 13th of April at which party President Gerry Adams, pictured right, Bairbre de Brún MEP, Policing Board Member Martina Anderson, Executive Minister Gerry Kelly, will join with the local Sinn Fein MP and MLAs on the speakers platform.
West Tyrone MP Pat Doherty said, "The meetings will provide Sinn Féin with an opportunity to give an assessment of the progress made and of the effectiveness of the institutional and other changes that have been implemented one year on from the restoration of the political institutions and 10 years after the Good Friday Agreement.
"Direct engagement with local communities is a crucial element of Sinn Féin's political strategy of ensuring that people have a real sense of ownership of the political process and these meetings will provide the public with an opportunity to engage directly with Sinn Féin Ministers and other senior party figures.
"This series of meetings is also the follow up to a commitment given by Gerry Adams, at the time of Sinn Féin's special Ard Fheis on policing last year, that one year on the party leadership would report back on the progress made on policing; as well as providing the public the opportunity to question us on our stewardship of the process.
'This April also marks the 10th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. The series of meetings will allow the party and the public to assess the significant contribution the Agreement has made to bringing about positive change including advances made in the All-Ireland agenda.
'The series of meetings will also include an engagement with the families of the republican patriot dead and with victims of state murder and collusion.'
Gerry Adams said, 'Substantial progress has been made in the last year and especially in the last decade on a wide range of issues, including policing, demilitarization, human rights and equality and more. Crucially the Good Friday Agreement, with its inclusive process and power sharing governmental structures, is the framework within which the current political institutions work.
'There are also outstanding issues still unresolved and some of these are directly affected by the process of leadership change taking place within the DUP; these include the transfer of powers on policing and justice, Irish language rights, and issues of equality and human rights. Despite this Sinn Fein believes that more progress will be made in the time ahead.
"Sinn Fein expects the DUP and the two governments to honour the commitments they have entered into."
