Don Mullan

The symposium addressed the Future use of Robben Island in a new South Africa and Mullan was invited to address the gathering concerning his own work on harnessing the memory of the Great Irish 'Famine' (1845–1849) in fighting injustice and oppression today.

Mullan established a "famine walk" in County Mayo, commemorating an actual walk of starving Irish peasants in 1848.

Don Mullan (born 1956, Derry, Northern Ireland) is an Irish author and media producer.

His book Eyewitness Bloody Sunday is officially recognised as a primary catalyst for a new Bloody Sunday inquiry, which became the longest-running and most expensive in British legal history.

Mullan, who is dyslexic, has spoken widely and was co-producer of a highly acclaimed and multi-award-winning film about Bloody Sunday that was inspired by his book.

Mullan was born in Derry, Northern Ireland, in 1956 and attended St. Eugene's Primary School, St Joseph's Boys' School, St. Patrick's College, Kiltegan, County Wicklow; St. Kieran's College, Kilkenny; Ulster Polytechnic; Holy Ghost College(Development Studies), Dublin; and Iona College, New Rochelle, New York.

Moore was interviewed for the position and subsequently employed by Concern Universal, setting up the Irish section of the charity as 'Children in Crossfire', named after a BBC documentary of the same name that had featured Moore in 1974.

Mullan was Director of AFrI (Action from Ireland) between 1979 and 1993, during which he and his colleagues developed the Great Famine Project.

He also worked in Brazil, from 1983 to 1984, during which he organised famine relief to the north-east of the country.

Mullan was detained at Johannesburg and refused entry into apartheid South Africa in 1985.

The walk attracted the attention of ABC, NBC and CBS News during its first three years, 1988–90.

The walk continues as an annual event.

As part of the project Mullan established several connections with the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and was made an Honorary Chief.

The Great Famine Project was multi-disciplined and involved publications, documentaries, dramas and commemorative events including the marking of forgotten mass Famine graves containing the sacred remains of thousands of Irish victims.

Moore had participated in Mullan's re-enactment of the Choctaw Nations 'Trail of Tears' charity walk from Oklahoma to Mississippi in 1992, during which Mullan spoke to him extensively about his humanitarian work with AFrI.

During his meeting with Allo Donnelly, Mullan recalled Moore's expressed desire to do similar work.

Mullan worked for the humanitarian agency Concern Worldwide from 1994 until 1996, during which he visited Rwanda and the refugee camps in Zaire.

In 1994 he attended the inauguration of President Nelson Mandela as the guest of Archbishop Desmond Tutu in recognition of his work on behalf of the anti-apartheid movement.

Mullan was invited by Archbishop Tutu to attend a symposium on Robben Island in May 1994, the week following the inauguration of President Mandela.

Mullan was diagnosed with dyslexia in 1994, and is a member of the International Dyslexia Association.

He has authored and edited several books and documentaries and acted as co-producer and associate producer in three award-winning movies Bloody Sunday Omagh,

and Five Minutes of Heaven.

In 1996, the late Allo Donnelly, then Chairman of Concern Universal, a UK-based World Development charity wishing to expand into Ireland, approached Mullan and asked him to head up the operation.

By then Mullan had begun his career in investigative journalism and declined the offer.

However, he strongly recommended a Derry-based friend, Richard Moore, for the position.

His 1997 best-selling book Eyewitness Bloody Sunday is officially recognised as an important catalyst that led to Prime Minister Tony Blair's decision in 1998 to establish a new Bloody Sunday Inquiry.

The Inquiry opened on 27 March 2000.

It was the longest and most expensive Inquiry in British legal history.

Mullan was co-producer, source writer, and actor in the 2002 award-winning Granada/Hell's Kitchen movie Bloody Sunday, directed by Paul Greengrass, which was inspired by his book.

In April 2004 he was keynote speaker at an International Symposium on dyslexia in Dublin.

At the age of 15, Mullan witnessed the events of Bloody Sunday in Derry.

He was participating in his first Civil Rights March.

With five young boys from Derry, Mullan founded in 1983 the St. Brigid's Peace Cross and was instrumental in having St. Brigid's Fire in Kildare permanently rekindled on 1 February 2006.

The fire had burned in Kildare for over a thousand years before it was extinguished during the Protestant Reformation.

In 2006 'Children in Crossfire' separated from Concern Universal and is now an independent Development Agency in Ireland.

The results were published on 15 June 2010.

British Prime Minister David Cameron addressed the House of Commons that afternoon where he acknowledged, among other things, that the paratroopers had fired the first shot, had fired on fleeing unarmed civilians, and shot and killed one man who was already wounded.

He then apologised on behalf of the British Government.

He was one of the first in the Irish world to recognise the approaching 150th anniversary of The Great Famine (The Great Hunger) as "a unique historical moment".

AFrI's project helped to generate awareness of the anniversary all over Ireland and throughout the world.