*This Post is About An Event That Occurred in Loughinisland in 1994..The Contents May be Upsetting

While on this trip our group heard directly from community members effected by the shooting that took place in the small town of Loughinisland during the 1994 World Cup; this event is the focus of the documentary “No Stone Unturned”. You can watch the full film here

During our time with the Down News Alexis and I had the chance to go to O’Toole‘s with Jim Masson; if you didn’t know the history of this small pub it might seem like any other local. Although the air feels somehow heavier, the noise suppressed when you walk in. A plaque on the wall remembers the men who died, the pub has made a few changes in the last 25 years but much remains the same in this place were the community still comes together for a drink.

While here I've personally met and spent time with several community members closely tied to this event, including Emma Rogan who is now a Sinn Féin MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly). We’ve been told that a group of men were away on a volunteer type trip to Romania otherwise during a match this pub would have been quite busy and the crowd much larger.

This pub to me is like much of Northern Ireland, looking towards the peace of the future while not wanting to completely forget the violence of the past. A community and people trying to find a way to reconcile and move forward together, and of course as we've heard many times because its Northern Ireland "it's complicated".