Northern Ireland

Special meeting in Mid Ulster to discuss 'rogue bonfires'

Youths wheeling pallets along Castle Street in Belfast city centre. Picture by Hugh Russell
Youths wheeling pallets along Castle Street in Belfast city centre. Picture by Hugh Russell Youths wheeling pallets along Castle Street in Belfast city centre. Picture by Hugh Russell

SINN Féin has called a special meeting of a committee of Mid Ulster District Council to discuss “rogue bonfires”.

The meeting of the environment committee, chaired by party councillor Ronan McGinley, is expected to be held later this month.

It comes days after Belfast City Council voted in favour of allowing staff and contractors to remove material from any bonfire in the city.

Unionists have since challenged the decision.

Tensions around bonfires have been high since before the Twelfth.

Sinn Féin councillor Brian McGuigan, a member of the Mid-Ulster environment committee, said he called for Mr McGinley to convene a meeting “to ensure everything is being done to reduce risk to ratepayers as a result of illegal activity”.

“Despite our best efforts to mitigate the problems associated with a number of (bonfires), illegal practices continue and are having serious detrimental impacts to the quality of life of many residents within our district," he said.

Last month Mid Ulster District Council removed tyres from several loyalist bonfires in the Cookstown area.

Meanwhile, youths wheeled stacks of bonfire pallets through Belfast city centre yesterday afternoon between traffic and past police.

Bemused shoppers looked on as the young people were seen manoeuvring the wood along Castle Place near Dunnes Stores and McDonald's.

At one stage police officers were seen speaking to a group, but they were allowed to continue with their journey.

Police said: "Enquiries were carried out and it was determined that the pallets had not been reported as stolen. The youths were then permitted to continue on their way."

The youths were going in the direction of the nationalist Divis area of west Belfast where an anti-internment bonfire is being built.

Despite efforts to remove pallets, material has continued to be collected for sites including in the New Lodge in north Belfast, where graffiti was recently painted on walls warning against the removal of materials.