March 2, 2005

NSU Hosts Mark Durkan, Leader of Main Constitutional Nationalist Party in Northern Ireland

FORT LAUDERDALE-DAVIE, Fla. – The leader of the main constitutional nationalist party in Northern Ireland will deliver the key address at the capstone of the exhibit, The Troubled Images: Posters and Images of the Northern Ireland Conflict, at Nova Southeastern University on Tuesday, March 15.

Mark Durkan, who heads the Social Democratic and Labour Party, or SDLP, will present a public lecture entitled, “A Better Way for a Better Ireland,” from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. in the Knight Auditorium of the Carl DeSantis Building.

The Linen Hall Library in Belfast assembled “Troubled Images,” which chronicles the lines of conflict between the ruling British government, Irish Catholics and Irish Protestants in Northern Ireland from the 1960s until the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. The posters of the Northern Ireland conflict are presented in North America in collaboration with Meridian International Center in Washington, D.C., and are being presented at NSU with support from BankAtlantic.

Speakers in the series have included Don Mullan, writer and co-producer of the film, “Bloody Sunday,” and noted Irish authors Patricia Reilly Giff and Susan Bartolotti, who will present their program “Ireland for Kids” on March 9.

James E. Doan, Ph.D., NSU professor of humanities and a speaker at the opening symposium, noted, “This is a particularly crucial period in the Northern Irish peace process, especially with upcoming Parliamentary elections in about two months, and we look forward to Mr. Durkan’s remarks about the current situation.”

Durkan, 44, was elected SDLP Leader in November 2001 and became Deputy First Minister of the Northern Ireland Assembly in December 2001. He is being hosted by the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences, the Shepard Broad Law Center, the South Florida Irish Studies Consortium, the Celtic American Law Society (at Shepard Broad), the Milwaukee Irish Fest Foundation and the Florida-based Irish Peace Institute Foundation.

The “Troubled Images” exhibit on display at the Alvin Sherman Library represents a wide range of opinions on major events and individuals involved in the arduous years of struggle and the on-going peace process, in which the United States Government, under the Clinton Administration, played a significant role in brokering the Good Friday agreement.

For information, call (954) 262-4613.