Councillors of Donegal paused for a minute’s silence before today’s plenary meeting in tribute to murdered Donegal County Councillor Eddie Fullerton on the 35th anniversary of his death. The Sinn Féin politician was murdered at his home in Buncrana on 25th May 1991 by loyalist gunmen. The highly-respected local county councillor was aged just 56. At the opening of today’s meeting of Donegal County Council in the Lifford chamber, Cllr Jack Murray said Cllr Fullerton’s killing was not only the murder of one man, but
“the assassination of an elected representative of this council”. “It was an attack on democracy. It was an attack on the people of Buncrana, who chose Eddie to speak for them,” he said. He added that Eddie Fullerton’s photograph proudly hangs on the wall of the county chamber, where his place in the history of Donegal County Council and in Donegal remains secure. Cllr Murray said it was a personal honour to have been elected to the seat once held by Eddie Fullerton. “It is
a seat that carries history, sacrifice, and responsibility,” he said. “Every time I sit in this chamber, I’m conscious that Eddie sat here before me. He used his voice here for the people of Buncrana, for Irish unity, for justice, and for those who were denied a voice.” Cllr Murray described Eddie Fullerton as “a father, a grandfather, and a tireless voice for the people of Buncrana and Inishowen and Donegal”. Cllr Murray said Eddie stood up for working-class communities, Irish unity, justice, equality and
civil rights “at a time when doing so carried very personal risk”. He said Mr Fullerton’s family had spent the past 35 years carrying “a burden that no family should ever have to carry”. “They’ve grieved Eddie, but they’ve also had to fight year after year, decade after decade, for truth, for answers, and for justice,” Cllr Murray said. “And they’ve done so with extraordinary dignity, courage, and determination. “Because of their efforts, the truth has continued to come out. We now know far more
about the pattern of collusion that existed in those years, and about the role of British state agents operating within loyalist death squads.” Cllr Murray said the Fullerton family believed they had been “badly failed” by the Irish Government and by the investigation into Eddie’s murder. “They believe successive Irish governments failed to demand the full truth from the British state, and that the investigation into Eddie’s murder was flawed and inadequate,” he said. “And they are right to continue demanding answers.” Cllr Murray said
the greatest tribute to Eddie Fullerton was “not only to remember him, but to continue the work he believed in, to stand with his family, to demand truth and justice, and to work for the peaceful democratic achievement of the United Island that Eddie longed to see.”
Donegal County Council, Eddie Fullerton, Buncrana, 35th anniversary, murder, loyalist gunmen, Jack Murray, Sinn Féin, Irish unity, collusion