Northern Ireland

Mid Ulster council passes motion condemning 'sectarian displays' at bonfires

Tricolours, elections posters and GAA flags were flown from a loyalist bonfire in the Leckagh estate in Magherafelt, Co Derry earlier this month
Tricolours, elections posters and GAA flags were flown from a loyalist bonfire in the Leckagh estate in Magherafelt, Co Derry earlier this month Tricolours, elections posters and GAA flags were flown from a loyalist bonfire in the Leckagh estate in Magherafelt, Co Derry earlier this month

MID Ulster council has passed a motion condemning “sectarian displays” at bonfires in the district.

It came after flags and election posters were placed on loyalist bonfires on the ‘eleventh night’.

The motion was one of several put before the council at its monthly meeting on Thursday night in Dungannon.

Tabled by Sinn Féin group leader Ronan McGinley, it also called on the PSNI to investigate “all theft, criminal damage and hate crimes that took place”.

Last year the council revealed plans to introduce a licensing scheme for bonfires on land it controls and has appointed consultants to deal with pyre builders.

During the meeting Mr McGinley said events over recent weeks had been “disappointing”.

“Actions by some bonfire builders and organisers seemed to have breached legislation in terms of the environment and hate crime."

He said some bonfire sites contained “toxic material including large numbers of tyres” and elections posters, effigies and flags were also burned.

“This type of behaviour is not a celebration of culture but is a display of sectarian hate,” he said.

DUP councillor Clement Cuthbertson claimed that people from all sections of the community attended bonfires in the district.

UUP councillor Trevor Wilson said: “The PUL (Protestant Unionist Loyalist) community in Mid Ulster feel their culture is under threat from this council.”

The motion was passed with 22 votes for and 13 against.

Before the meeting a letter was handed to a senior council official by the British Truth Forum, while prominent member William Lennox sat in the public gallery as the debate took place.

The letter claimed the council’s bonfire policy “can only be described as a failure”.

Meanwhile, DUP councillors tabled two motions in response to MPs legislating for the introduction of abortion and same-sex marriage in the north if devolution is not restored by October.

Mr Cuthbertson’s motion said the council “regrets the decision of government to enforce abortion legislation without prior consultation with the elected members of the Northern Ireland Assembly and the electorate of Northern Ireland”.

During the debate he said “the law in Northern Ireland protects women from culture pressure to have an abortion”.

“The support for the protection of all human life crosses every community divide,” he said.

Every party except Sinn Féin voted in favour of the motion which was passed after a recorded count by 20 votes to 16.

Two independent republicans, Barry Monteith and Dan Kerr, abstained with Mr Monteith saying he did not accept the right of the British government to “make law without the Irish people having any say in that law”.

Before the meeting members of the Tyrone-based St Joseph’s Pro Life Group and Precious Life held a short protest outside the council’s offices.

During the demonstration hymns were sung and the Rosary was recited.

Some people in the public gallery, including former Tyrone AOH president and republican prisoner Gerry McGeough, broke into applause when the motion result was declared.

Mr McGeough later said: “The politicians need to know that people do not want under any circumstance abortion made legal in Tyrone or the north of Ireland.”

The DUP's Paul McLean has also put forward a motion stating that the council “is strongly opposed to the recent decision by Westminster to enforce same-sex marriage legislation in Northern Ireland” and calling for it “to write to the prime minister urging an immediate withdrawal of this current decision”.

However, this motion was defeated by 12 votes to 18.