A SOUTH Armagh historian and tour guide has hit out at Newry, Mourne and Down council claiming they involved her in a “propaganda exercise” during the recent visit of Prince Charles.
The Prince of Wales and his wife Camilla were in the north last week on a two-day visit.
On the first day in the north Prince Charles had an engagement in Slieve Gullion Forest Park where there was a musical performance from children in The Ring of Gullion Traditional Arts Partnership.
However Una Walsh, a Mullaghbawn native and Ring of Gullion Geo-ambassador, claims she wasn't given the full facts before agreeing to take part.
In a Facebook post she said she “didn’t question that information” as she has “always met groups willingly and voluntarily”.
However, she said she “arrived to find that I was part of a royal visit which was clearly a propaganda exercise orchestrated by the Northern Ireland Office and facilitated by Newry, Mourne and Down Council with heavily armed PSNI on each approach road.”
Ms Walsh resigned from the Ring of Gullion Landscape Partnership and vowed to “never again work with Newry, Mourne and Down District Council" but said she would "continue to promote south Armagh to the best of my ability".
Terry Harte, a former Sinn Féin councillor in the area, said he understood her decision.
In a Facebook post in response he said Ms Walsh had been “hoodwinked” adding that “the council know full well the sensitivities in this area around the English royal family”.
He said this was particularly so for Prince Charles, “who is Colonel in Chief of the Parachute Regiment that tortured the people of this area for decades and just last week an inquest found guilty of slaughter in Ballymurphy”.
The former representative called on council “to issue an immediate and unreserved apology to Una and anyone else who felt they were deceived in attending this event”.
Both the council and Northern Ireland Office were contacted for a response.
