Colum Eastwood

Who is Colum Eastwood?

Colum Eastwood is a Social Democratic and Labour Party politician in Northern Ireland who was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2011.

Eastwood was elected to Derry City Council in 2005, and elected for a one-year term as Mayor of Derry in June 2010. Aged 27, he was the youngest mayor of the city to date.

In 2012 he drew criticism from Unionists including Jim Allister after carrying the coffin at the paramilitary funeral of a former INLA member in Derry.A masked Real IRA gunman fired a volley of shots over the coffin,although Eastwood stated he was not present at the time of the gunfire. He defended his attendance at the funeral saying the deceased was a personal friend of his and added "I wasn't concerned at the time about who was standing beside me, or about what flag or otherwise was draped over the coffin." It later emerged that party colleague Mark H. Durkan also attended the funeral.

When "a serving British soldier...'desecrated' the memory of those who died on Bloody Sunday by posting an “offensive” slogan on the internet," Colum Eastwood claimed the soldier should be removed from the army without delay