Anglo-Irish 'odd couple' in bid to unite schools of OmaghThey are the odd couple of Anglo-Irish politics: one a former British army The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. It came into being with unification of the governments and armed forces of England and Scotland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. officer and Conservative MP; the other a Sinn Fein Sinn Fein n. An Irish political and cultural society founded about 1905 to promote political and economic independence from England, unification of Ireland, and a renewal of Irish culture. assembly man and long-time friend to past members of the IRA's East Tyrone Brigade. But the chairman of Westminster's intelligence and security committee, Michael Mates Rt Hon Michael John Mates (born 9 June 1934) is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He is the MP for the constituency of East Hampshire. He has been a member of the Privy Council since February 2004. , has joined forces with Barry McElduff in a battle to persuade the Ministry of Defence to turn Lisanelly barracks bar·rack 1 tr.v. bar·racked, bar·rack·ing, bar·racks To house (soldiers, for example) in quarters. n. 1. A building or group of buildings used to house military personnel. , where the Tory MP used to be stationed, into a 110-acre 'integrated educational village' for Omagh and its rural hinterland. They want the site, at the edge of the town that suffered the worst single atrocity of the Troubles with the Omagh bomb in 1998, to be shared by three Catholic and three mainly Protestant schools. Plans drawn up by a local committee and supported by the Western Education and Library Board would see the six schools sharing sporting, educational and medical facilities as well as using the same teachers. Lisanelly barracks was turned into a temporary mortuary after the Omagh bomb and was where many of the wounded were taken before being flown by helicopter to hospitals in Belfast. Mates was stationed there as an army officer in the 1960s with the Queen's Dragoon Guards. 'I suppose it is a sign of the times A Sign of the Times was a 1966 single by Petula Clark. Written by Tony Hatch, the uptempo pop number juxtaposed Clark's driving vocals with a powerful brass section. She introduced the tune on the Ed Sullivan Show on February 27, 1966. that I am working with Barry in this campaign. We have crossed swords in the past and there has been some good-natured banter between us. What we have decided is to firstly persuade Shaun Woodward, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is the United Kingdom cabinet minister who has responsibility for government matters relating Northern Ireland. He or she is only responsible to the UK Parliament at Westminster, and not the Northern Ireland Assembly, even when it is , to in turn persuade the MoD to hand the land over for this excellent idea of an "educational village".' Asked if he was uneasy forming an alliance with a Sinn Fein assembly member, the Tory MP added: 'That is the way I work. I will always work on cross-party issues just as I do in the House of Commons House of Commons: see Parliament. . Besides I have no problem engaging with the Shinners, after all I was the first Conservative MP to debate with Gerry Adams on American TV in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of even before the ceasefire.' McElduff admitted that, given their histories, they made an odd pairing: 'It's unusual, but this is an issue on which both of us agree. This project would be a great thing for Omagh and the west. We don't want the MoD selling this land off to property developers for private housing. But it won't be a free gift either if they hand it over. Money can be raised from the sale of land the six schools own in other parts of Omagh.' 
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