Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
It’s time to walk the walk & get Assembly going
Dylan’s 90-mile protest over Stormont
THE man who brought us the #Wedeservebetter campaign is now walking 90 miles in protest over the Stormont impasse.
It is two years since Northern Ireland had a functioning Executive with talks between the DUP and Sinn Fein unable to get it back up and running.
But Co Fermanagh man Dylan Quinn is not about to give up.
He set off from Enniskillen on Saturday and plans to make it to Stormont in East Belfast by 5.30pm today.
The 44-year-old from the village of Monea said: “This is becoming our normal that we don’t have a government.
“We are touching two years of this twisted normality and it’s not acceptable. We need to find a way.”
Mr Quinn, a choreographer, has not been impressed with Secretary of State Karen Bradley. He added: “I don’t think she’s done a good job.
“It’s difficult and her hands are tied behind her back because of the relationship the Tories have with the DUP, but I think she could have done a much more proactive job in trying to pull people together.” The father of four is making the journey to Stormont to “keep the #Wedeservebetter message going”. Mr Quinn made a call for each of our 90 MLAS to join him for a mile along the way. He said yesterday Ulster Unionist Doug Beattie and John Blair of Alliance were the only ones to get in touch.
Mr Beattie said: “Dylan, like many people, is frustrated with the stalemate we have had for the past two years and decided to take action.
“He is walking 90 miles and that was symbolic as we have 90 MLAS. I was nominated for mile 19 and headed up to walk it.
“We talked about getting the Assembly back up and running again – but I think we all have a role to play.”