N Ireland Political Leaders to Debate Shared Future at Summer Madness

Thousands of young people will get the chance this weekend to tackle two of Northern Ireland's leading politicians about the road ahead for Northern Ireland.

At Summer Madness, Ireland's largest Christian youth festival, Ian Paisley Jr, the DUP MLA's Junior Minister, and Caitriona Ruane, Education Minister for Sinn Fein MLA, will debate the topic "Sharing the Future?" in front of young people from all over Ireland.

From opposing DUP and Sinn Fein perspectives, the two speakers will focus on how to share a future on the island of Ireland, whether Protestants and Unionists have anything to fear from Sinn Fein, and what vision of Unionism could attract people from the nationalist and republican traditions.

The BBC Northern Ireland journalist and presenter Conor Bradford will chair the debate, which will include a question and answer session with the audience.

The debate is being hosted by the Hard Gospel Project, in association with Summer Madness. The Hard Gospel Project was founded by the Church of Ireland to deal with the hard issues of sectarianism and to help stimulate new ways of building a shared future in the Ireland of the 21st century.

Over 4,000 young people celebrating their faith will be camping at Summer Madness, which takes place from Friday 29 June until Saturday 7 July. A further 2,000 day visitors are also expected to join in the festival, which is marking its 21st birthday this year.