NI same-sex marriages on a fitting date

DERRY Girls star Siobhan McSweeney will join former attorney general Dominic Grieve MP, one-time Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell and former GAA player John McAreavey in Belfast to oppose a no-deal Brexit.

Opponents of a no-deal exit will gather in the Ulster Hall this Saturday for the Let Us Be Heard event.

A line-up of speakers from business and across the political spectrum in Northern Ireland and the UK will make clear their opposition to the decision by Boris Johnson’s government to prorogue Parliament for five weeks in the crucial period leading up to the Brexit deadline of October 31.

They will be joined by McSweeney — Sister Michael in the hit Channel 4 comedy Derry Girls — to demand that a final-say referendum is held on any Brexit outcome and that voters should have the option of staying in the EU.

Political speakers will include Mr Grieve, the SDLP’s Claire Hanna MLA, Green Party NI leader Claire Bailey MLA, Alliance leader Naomi Long MEP and Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former communications director.

Business speakers will include Beannchor CEO Bill Wolsey and Newry Commerce lead Deborah King, alongside business owner and ex-Gaelic footballer John McAreavey (right).

Rallies and protests have sprung up in the last fortnight.

The People’s Vote campaign has been organising a series of rallies across the UK through the summer and autumn, culminating in another huge march through central London on October 19.

Ms Hanna, a leading supporter of the People’s Vote campaign, and who will speak at the rally, said: “Northern Ireland will be hit first

Derry Girls’ Siobhan McSweeney, Alistair Campbell (top right) and

Dominic Grieve (right)

and hardest by a no-deal crashout, yet people here did not vote for any Brexit.

“It is profoundly undemocratic to attempt to force a wretched no-deal on the people without their democratic consent, which is why we are demanding a final-say referendum and the chance to vote to stay in the EU.”

Rally organiser Doire Finn, of Our Future, Our Choice NI, said: “Peace and progress were precious and fragile here even before our future fell into the hands of someone as untrustworthy as Boris Johnson.

“An undemocratic no-deal threatens to turn the clock back to much darker times, as well as do untold damage to jobs and living standards. We refuse to have it forced on us without our say. We demand a people’s vote.” THE first same-sex marriages in Northern Ireland are set to take place on Valentine’s Day next year.

In July, Parliament voted to pass the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act, which obliges the Government to act if the devolved Northern Ireland Executive has not been re-established by October 21, 2019.

Following discussions with UK Government Ministers, Love Equality — the LGBT campaigning group — confirmed yesterday that in the absence of a functioning Stormont Executive, the legalisation of same-sex marriage in NI is due to come into effect on January 13, 2020.

Couples will have to wait the usual 28 days after submitting their intention to marry, setting up Valentine’s Day — February 14, 2020 — as a landmark occasion for same-sex partners in NI.

Patrick Corrigan, NI director of Amnesty International, said: “There could be no more fitting date for NI’s first same-sex weddings than Valentine’s Day.”