Paul Givan, the DUP minister for communities, has found himself in the headlines over recent days and is plainly a politician who holds firm views on a range of issues.
It was confirmed yesterday that his department has reduced its grant to the Arts Council of Northern Ireland by £500,000 for the coming year, even though Mr Givan announced earlier in the week that he had been able to provide £200,000 to a scheme which will supply musical instruments for marching bands.
The minister also attracted considerable attention by posing for photographs with a large flaming torch as he set light to a loyalist bonfire in Co Tyrone on the night of July 11.
It must be accepted that, in the present economic climate, Mr Givan faced some tough decisions as he considered an Arts Council budget which had already suffered a £1.4m drop in 2015/16.
While there had been fears that even more severe cuts would follow, there can be no doubt that many worthy initiatives and organisations will come under growing pressure as a result of the spending review.
Although his department insisted that the funding for marching bands, which are closely associated with the loyal orders, represented `additional money’, observers will inevitably wonder about the sense of priorities displayed by the minister.
His predecessor, Sinn Fein’s Carál Ní Chuilín, concluded last year that she could not justify maintaining such a commitment at a stage when many broadly based projects supported by the Arts Council were facing the axe.
It will also be noted that Mr Givan chose to release details of his change of policy on the eve of the major Orange parades across Northern Ireland on July 12, and his subsequent exploits at Annahoe in Co Tyrone represented an endorsement of an even more contentious aspect of loyalist culture.
Concerted attempts have been made by district councils to encourage the use of pyres during Eleventh Night celebrations which reduce the well documented threat to nearby property and address serious environmental concerns, but Mr Givan chose to send out a very different message by publicly associating himself with a crudely assembled stack of wooden pallets.
The cost to the Fire Service of dealing with out of control bonfires elsewhere from 2010 to 2015 was almost £700,000, a sum which could certainly have been put to good use by the Arts Council.
It may not come as a particular surprise when unionist representatives make a point of strongly expressing their backing for activities linked to the Orange Order at this time of year.
However, Mr Givan would still need to remember that his title remains minister for communities and his responsibilities go well beyond one section of our divided society.
