THE son of a leading republican paramilitary murdered during an INLA feud is to stand as an Alliance candidate in May's local government elections.
Emmet McDonough-Brown, whose father Jimmy Brown was shot dead in 1992 during a feud between INLA splinter groups, is one of two Alliance candidates running in the Botanic ward in south Belfast.
The 30 year-old was eight when his father, a member of the breakaway IPLO, was gunned down in his car in Clonard Street in west Belfast by another splinter faction. It is believed Brown had come north from Dublin to mediate in a dispute within the republican faction over the leadership of the IPLO.
Mr McDonough-Brown's mother is Roisin McDonough, chief executive of the Arts Council.
The Alliance candidate was schooled at Bunscoil Phobal Feirste on the Shaw's Road in west Belfast before going to Methodist College and Queen's University, where he studied law.
"I wasn't born when my father was imprisoned and was only three years old when he came out of jail," the Alliance candidate said in an interview.
"Regrettably, I never really knew him, and like many children affected by the Troubles who have lost a parent I deeply lament that loss."
Mr McDonough-Brown described the challenge of building a shared future as the "most obvious but yet the most radical idea in our politics".
"This is why I joined the Alliance Party, a diverse range of people who are united in that pursuit," he said.
"It is also why I am standing for the local council elections this May."
* FATHER AND SON: Jimmy Brown, left, and his son Emmet McDonough-Brown