Cancellation of WRN NI event at Féile festival.

That's interesting, Sex Matters say in an email that
I’ve [=Maya] written to Féile spelling out the law and asking it to reinstate the event and apologise to WRN NI, Sex Matters, Fiona and the other speakers. Otherwise we will see them in court.

An Fhéile says that WRN NI had already filed court papers - off their own bat, and separately from SM it would appear.

The impression they are giving is that even as An Fhéile reps sat down in a spirit of conciliation, or something, WRN were sneaking down to the courthouse at that very moment 'before the meeting concluded' to file court papers.

Presumably they did so before An Fhéile made the offer of a meeting, and presumably would have withdrawn them if there had been a satisfactory outcome from the meeting.

Yeah I'm not sure the 'well, we tried, but WRN were big meanies and sent the lawyers in when we were just trying to be nice' message is going to age well.

We shall see...

I had my hopes up, now they're dashed. 😔
They seem to be playing the victim card, they're good at that, I'll wait until a reliable source has posted an update, I don't trust the narrative this organisation is attempting to frame. 🤔

In the various interviews and statements given by WRN, they’ve emphasised their desire to meet in person in preference to going to law.

So I’m very surprised and somewhat doubtful of Féile’s summary of events.

Sex Matters also gave Féile the option for dialogue over legal proceedings so, again, I don’t think Féile’s summary makes sense.

And now WRN says this

https://x.com/ni_wrn/status/2080690876678840322/photo/1

So WRN are saying they'll withdraw legal proceedings if Feile let them attend. Interesting....

Lets hope the WRN post again to address the accusation F have made in their version of events. If F are lying, the WRN needs to say so, they can't let them post claptrap without challenging it.

Absolutely.

But even if what F said is true, and WRNs lawyers had done their thing during the meeting, if F had agreed to WRNs attendance it wouldn't have mattered anyway because the court proceedings would have been withdrawn.

I'm on the side of F being Fishy. 🧐

I don't have a problem with the WRN filing before the meeting either, I see it as a negotiating tactic, the WRN wanted to make it perfectly clear to F during the meeting that they weren't going to let this anti-women's rights discrimination stand.

Funny how F caved completely to the keyboard warriors but are framing the WRN's tactic's as something they're prepared to stand up to.

Talk about the upside down world.

Considering the fact that Féile mischaracterised WRN as anti-trans and given that on The Nolan Show the People Before Profit rep declared WRN to be anti-rights and funded by the American Christian Right, I'm not sure we can take their descriptions of events seriously. So far they haven't been behaving in a truth-based way on this issue.

JKR's response to the Féile statement is glorious 😍

https://x.com/jk_rowling/status/2080763220143329317?s=20

https://nitter.net/jk_rowling/status/2080763220143329317?s=20

Also, Irish GC activist Róisín Michaux has made an interesting point on the negative interaction between Nationalist politics and Féile's behaviour towards WRN:
https://x.com/RoisinMichaux/status/2080634234306236697?s=20

https://nitter.net/RoisinMichaux/status/2080634234306236697?s=20

Interview with one of Féile An Phobail founders making the claim that the festival won’t censor:

‘In 2022 Danny Morrison, founder said
@FeileBelfast has “not ever censored any speaker or artist”. Féile has supported terrorists & murderers to speak. It’s incredible that women’s sex based rights is their line in the sand. @ni_wrn is Feile’s first censored group in its history

https://x.com/JanesReceipts/status/2080747085075292289?s=20

https://nitter.net/JanesReceipts/status/2080747039768355156

Yeah, clearly shows the link between using anti-trans activism to fracture Scottish & now Irish nationalism.

The festival's run by people who highlight the evils of British colonialism, murder and internment in Ireland. Why wouldn't they stand with an oppressed minority? Platforming a tiny number of transphobic women (who are backed by the Unionist far right) very much goes against their ethos.

And as if the woman who employed Johnny Depp cares about women's safety. She gave him money, respectability and a platform after he'd been judged a domestic abuser. Oh and a position of power over other women on that set, what an incredible feminist.

Commentary from the plain people of Ireland on the latest strategy of condemning Irish women seeking their legal rights:

https://x.com/faintlyfalling/status/2080738077312450960?s=20
I see the retreat to talking about culture wars has begun. As though being a woman in Ireland has held no political significance and Mná na hÉireann 👩‍🦱🤌 could only have had their heads filled with notions by Brits and Yanks and would have been grand with things otherwise.

https://x.com/faintlyfalling/status/2080920297088118795?s=20
I invite MaryLouMcDonald to take a gander at all the comments calling women "West Brits" and "Tans" under tweets about the Féile an Phobail fiasco, as she asks us to plan for Irish unity.

https://x.com/modonnellDL/status/2080954376227594300?s=20
Whatever your constitutional leaning, it's quite something to observe southerners handwring private financial backing to a group of women in the North while their own taxes are funnelled through the Tánaiste's office to fund policy formulation in the North by non mandated actors.

https://x.com/tafkamichael/status/2080966645254639984?s=20
Now they've piloted to well, if you put womens rights before a united Ireland you were never a Republican or nationalist anyway. Its fucking mental. @Think32_ are trying to broaden the appeal of UI, while alienating anyone who doesn't want men in camogie changing rooms.

I grew up in a Republican/Nationalist community. I lived through The Troubles. I've had IRA gunmen hold me and my family at gunpoint, I've had family members injured by bombs set off by the IRA, I've lived under threat of violence from the paramilitaries in our community for what they consider disobedience. I've seen the women they beat and young men they've kneecaped under the guise of 'justice'.

How does that fit in with your newly-accquired philosophy of Brits = Evil and Taigs = Saints

Some of your take on Irish history is not wrong - nobody could deny the tragic outcome of centuries of British colonialism in Ireland.

Féile na Pobail obviously comes from the side of the community that felt the sharp edge of that colonisation for centuries, but they are inclusive of the 'other side' - there are events relating to the Loyalist experience, the Presbyterian heritage in NI, and the 18th century United Irishmen who gave the Irish republican tradition so many of its Protestant/Dissenter heroes - the Sheares brothers, Henry Joy and Mary Ann McCracken, Wolfe Tone, Emmet, Russell... the list goes on.

Ironically, the festival also has events by and about women - not the stroppy kind who insist on defining our own identity, obviously😒

My experience mirrors Utopia's - I've had RUC guns pointed at me and my family when I was a child, two members of my family narrowly escaped being blown up by Loyalists, and I would have been amongst the 34 people killed by Loyalist bombs in Dublin, if we hadn't by chance left Dublin just before they were set off around the city.

It's more complicated than you suggest, TPA, and Irish people are capable of more subtle approaches to our history than you seem to think.

There's no reason for Irish nationalists to take trans claims to be oppressed, marginalised and suffering 'literal genocide' at face value just because they say so - if trans rights activists were to read the history of Ireland, they would learn the true meaning of those words, and how foolish they look claiming them for themselves.

Well said, Marie! Maith thú!

Journalist David Thompson has written another excellent article analysing the interaction between NI's complex post-conflict politics and Genderism, he's been very interested in this topic ever since he made The Nolan Show Investigates podcast series:

https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/politics/david-thompson-the-feile-debacle-shows-irish-nationalism-has-a-problem-with-letting-women-speak-8820443

As the UK Supreme Court ruling showed, when parliament made laws relating to the rights of men and women decades ago, they did not have in mind future bearded men who might consider themselves a lady actually being treated in law as one.

Unfortunately for women in Northern Ireland, a majority of the political class and almost all of the public bodies which should exist to protect their rights were too far gone to accept it.
As the gender edifice crumbled, the meaningless platitudes kept rolling off the tongues of nationalist and Alliance politicians.

Michelle O’Neill warned against DUP ministers implementing the ruling, saying “this is about compassion”… This is about people out there in society who are fearful for their own safety”.

So keen was Alliance to avoid being seen to accept the ruling, its chief whip Paula Bradshaw suggested Northern Ireland could pass its own equality law and the courts could “clarify” it “once it is produced”.

So utterly meaningless were the platitudes, one might have wondered whether Sinn Fein in particular may have been ready to drop the gender extremists – albeit subtly and slowly.

Any notion that may happen was dashed by Sinn Fein’s failure to support the Women’s Rights Network after they were banned from Féile an Phobail this week. GAA women, banned from speaking in West Belfast. for not accepting the demands of men.

Nationalist parties are taking their lead from Dublin where what trans activists want, trans activists get. The UK has taken a different path, and the public in Northern Ireland prefer it.

Platitudes will no longer cut it. Irish nationalist parties need to listen to the public.
They need to let all women speak, not just the ones with the approval of male trans activists.

Thanks for the link.

Nationalist parties are taking their lead from Dublin where what trans activists want, trans activists get. The UK has taken a different path, and the public in Northern Ireland prefer it.

Irish nationalist parties need to listen to the public

They may also be taking the cue from the nationalist parties in Scotland and Wales because they're also captured by this claptrap ideology, so all of the UK's Nationalist parties need to listen to the public.

Found some more interesting discussion on N Ireland TwiX.

This is a bit more background info on Féile's behaviour:
https://x.com/nwl88444048/status/2080559151889936788?s=20
https://nitter.net/nwl88444048/status/2080559151889936788?s=20

Last year Feile an Phobail platformed a panel comprising two people, Elaine Crory the lobbyist with a group called Women's Resource and Development Agency, and Alexa Moore, a man with the gender dysphoria and member of the SDLP. The focus of the panel was to criticise the UK Supreme Court ruling which restored the primacy of biological sex.

Three months later, Sara Morrison sought the recusal of a wing-member of her tribunal, "Professor" Deborah Boyd because of Boyd's links to WRDA, an organisation which holds views on men with gender dysphoria which are at odds with the majority of society**

** LucidTalk poll in April 2025 after the UK Supreme Court ruling found the vast majority 80-20 excluding don't knows, in N Ireland supported the ruling. Both genders, all ages, all political parties, all religions, there was a majority which supported thee ruling compared to those opposed.

This year, Feile An Phobail has excluded and cancelled an event by Women's Rights Network two weeks before the panel/audience discussion.

Feile an Phobail is facing potential legal action for breach of contract and defamation and breach of the Equality Act. Alas, hypocrisy isn't in itself legally actionable (but to the extent it engages the Equality Act, it might be relevant).

And one more thing of interest from N Ireland TwiX:

https://x.com/treesey/status/2080635125985894484?s=20
https://nitter.net/treesey/status/2080635125985894484?s=20

Kathleen, a nationalist from West Belfast, says she agrees with the @duponline minister who’s criticised @FeileBelfast for banning the @ni_wrn

A heart stopping voice so seldom heard in all this “I’m a mother of a vulnerable adult”
@StephenNolan’s show on Radio Ulster