Recent Activities
According to Henry McDonald of the Observer, McFarlane was part of the IRA delegation that met with the Provisional IRA South Armagh Brigade in August 2004 to discuss Gerry Adams' remarks that the IRA might disband to prevent it being used as an excuse to delay a power-sharing agreement which would include republicans.
He is now a member of Coiste na n-Iarchimí ("the Ex-Prisoners' Committee") - a welfare organisation for republican ex-prisoners.
The political wing of the Provisional republican movement, Sinn Féin, describes him as a voluntary worker, and he has been a vocal supporter of the party’s political stance, appearing beside both Gerry Adams and Gerry Kelly at rallies and reiterating former prisoners’ support for the direction the party is taking.
McFarlane has formed a band, Tuan, which is a regular on the Irish republican entertainment circuit. He also performs quite regularly in the Hatfield House, a popular bar in the Holylands district of Belfast.
MacFarlane has also shown solidarity with the radical Basque nationalist movement and has been interviewed in the Basque and Spanish press on the subject of the Basque peace process and the proposed release of ETA prisoners. He has described the ETA prisoners as having been engaged in a, 'legitimate struggle' similar to that of Irish republicans.
He lives in Belfast and is the father of three children.
Read more about this topic: Brendan Mc Farlane
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