A NEW play by writer/teacher Kieran Doyle from Rosscarbery called ‘Smugglers’ will be performed on Sunday as part of the West Cork Feel Good Festival.

It’s about smuggling refugees into Ireland in a dark, cramped lorry. Not against their will – most of the migrants have paid through the nose for the privilege of leaving the despair, torture and destruction during the Syrian civil war behind them and find a way to survive, or even a better life.

‘I wanted to shine a light on how alike most humans are, wherever we come from,’ said Kieran.

‘How the conflict between Shia and Sunni Muslims (which led to deadly clashes and murderous suppression by the then Syrian government) is not so far removed from the religious strife we’ve seen on this island until the Good Friday Agreement in 1999, just over 25 years ago. There is a family that wants its young adult daughter to have a positive future instead of constantly looking over her shoulder, at threat from arrest or disappearance.

Something which many peace-loving Irish nationals will be able to identify with,’ said Kieran.

‘It’s not all rose-tinted glasses. There is a man who poses a real (albeit veiled) threat against the “infidels of Europe”. Yet he also sees sharply that countries such as Russia, the US, UK, China, Israel lit the fuse and kept the war going. I would like that understanding to become part of the discussions around immigration,’ added Kieran.

‘Smugglers’ will be performed, free of charge, as a staged reading embedded in a conversation between Kieran, the Palestinian director Nasser Al-Swirki, the cast and the audience, on Sunday October 5th, 8pm, in the Skibbereen Town Hall.