ATTACKS on the disabled will "always be wrong" the group protesting against Frankie Boyle's upcoming gig at the West Belfast Festival, Feile an Phobail said last night.
The controversial Scottish comedian will still take to the stage at Falls Park as planned next week, despite continued opposition from Feile for All who claim his jokes mock children with disabilities.
Festival organisers have apologised for the hurt caused by the booking and promised to do things differently in future.
Despite the controversy, the comedian - who has so far stayed silent on the issue - remains a popular fixture of the publicly funded festival with his show now the fastest-selling comedy gig ever staged at the event.
In a statement protest group Feile for All said it felt "real and deep hurt" as a result of Boyle's comments and felt "that Feile, by extenstion, were condoning the same, contrary to their ethos of inclusivity".
"Attacks on the disabled, either verbal or physical, will always be wrong," the group said. "While the gig will continue on this occasion, we remain firmly opposed to this act appearing at our festival. We believe, however, that we have run an extremely successful campaign.
"We have raised the issue of attacks on the most vulnerable within society as being unacceptable and created awareness of disability issues generally."
Protestors had demanded the show's cancellation because of jokes Boyle had told about people with Down's Syndrome at a live show in 2010.
As part of a joint statement released last night, Feile an Phobail said they would be putting measures in place "to avoid a situation like this arising in the future".
"Féile took this criticism extremely seriously and stated that they completely appreciate that there has been a deep sense of hurt caused with the booking," organisers said.
"They had in no way set out to come into conflict with any section of the community and are deeply sorry for any hurt or offence that has been caused.
"Féile an Phobail finds the mocking of the disabled totally unacceptable. Going forward, a number of ideas were jointly posited by Féile and the Féile For All group, which included a range of effective measures that Féile would put in place to avoid a situation like this arising in the future."
Following a meeting earlier this week between the two groups, it was also agreed to nominate a representative from an organisation representing the interests of people with a disability to sit on the Feile entertainment committee.
Other key ideas proposed included continued outreach and support to disability groups in terms of advocacy, funding, accessibility, participation and inclusive performance.
An undertaking was also promised by Feile management to relay concerns over the content material to Boyle's management.
