Asbestos was discovered in the remains of an Eleventh Night bonfire in Co Antrim, it has emerged following a local council committee meeting.
The site, in the Neillsbrook area of Randalstown, will receive less funding from a council-managed programme next year following the discovery of asbestos and because two Irish tricolours were set alight.
Councillors in Belfast attempted to stop a bonfire on the Donegall Road after asbestos was discovered close to the site. The bonfire was lit.
Other organisers of bonfires in the Antrim and Newtownabbey Council area will be penalised for allowing Irish and other flags to be torched, a move opposed by DUP representatives.
Flags were burned at four bonfire sites that participate in council’s bonfire management programme, Neillsbrook, two in Rathcoole, and Ballycraigy in Antrim.
Organisers of the Neillsbrook fire will receive 20% less funding while the others will be penalised with a £700 penalty.
Twenty-three sites in Antrim and Newtownabbey took part in this year’s scheme, which had a budget of £171,000 and was aimed at enabling family fun events to be held at a cost of up to £3,500 each. Groups do not receive funding directly from the council.
As part of the programme, groups are banned from erecting/displaying racist, sectarian or paramilitary paraphernalia such as flags, emblems, effigies on or in the vicinity of the bonfire site or in the vicinity of any activities associated with the programme.
Councillors heard how the contractor found the asbestos in the remains of the fire and that “urgent removal” had to be arranged. The cost of removing the asbestos will be revealed at a later closed door meeting.
The report also stated PSNI neighbourhood officers reported Irish and other flags were burned at a number of bonfire sites in the borough which Dunsilly Sinn Fein councillor Annie O’Lone described as a “hate crime”.
Ms O’Lone proposed to impose the penalties, which was approved on a vote of seven for and six against. “It shows we as a council do not tolerate hate crimes or environmental crimes on our watch,” she said.
DUP councillor Paul Dunlop, from Antrim, voted against imposing sanctions linked to four sites where flags were burned or for the presence of asbestos. Mr Dunlop said inspections were carried out on the sites.
He also argued councillors should wait for the completion of a review of the current bonfire management programme, including funding arrangements.
