TUV member launches appeal in legal action over Belfast City Council Irish language policy

Ann McClure claims a judge wrongly determined the local authority’s handling of voting rules were not unlawful.

Papers have now been lodged at the Court of Appeal in a bid to have the ruling set aside.

Ms McClure’s spokesperson, loyalist campaigner Jamie Bryson, said: “The appellant respectfully feels the court at first instance couldn’t see the wood for the trees and fell into error on the proper interpretation of the call-in mechanism.”

The case centres on a scheme for reconsidering two separate controversial decisions about a proposed Irish language policy and flying Palestinian flag at City Hall in Belfast.

Lawyers for Ms McClure argued that the Council’s voting procedures thwarted safeguards aimed at protecting minority views.

Approved in October last year, the draft language policy aims to promote the use of Irish in public life, with bilingual signage and logos to appear on council facilities, signage and uniforms.

A call-in mechanism was triggered to scrutinise the legitimacy of the decision amid objections from unionist representatives.

Under the procedure a 15% minority of councillors can request a reconsideration which involves seeking legal opinion on any possible adverse community impact.

If those concerns are assessed as being valid, an 80% super majority may be required in a call-in for the original motion to be voted in again.

Ms McClure’s legal team claimed the Council had wrongly interpreted relevant sections of the Local Government (Northern Ireland) Act 2014.

A new filter was wrongly created which handed a veto to a simple majority of the elected representatives, it was contended.

Last month, however, a High Court judge dismissed that part of the challenge.

He held that the standing orders under scrutiny were not ultra vires, or outside the legal powers of the Act.

Judicial review proceedings widened out into a systemic challenge after the Council backed a Sinn Fein proposal to fly the Palestinian flag for one day at City Hall.

Unionists again objected and called in the original decision taken to mark Palestinian Solidarity Day.

Following a further vote the flag was eventually raised for a short period at the start of December.

Councillors had received legal opinion that it was not likely to have a disproportionate impact on the Jewish community.

Mr Justice McLaughlin found that a statutory process for amending the standing orders was not properly completed.

He identified “procedural confusion” when the full Council decided on the adverse effects of flying the flag, assessing the route taken as “without adequate legal foundation and ultra vires”.

Ultimately, however, the judge said the same outcome would have been inevitable if standing orders were correctly applied rather than a simple majority vote.

Ms McClure is now seeking to appeal his ruling on the Irish language policy call-in, citing a number of grounds where she claims he got it wrong.

With a hearing expected to be listed later this year, Mr Bryson predicted the case could ultimately reach the Supreme Court.

He added: “This appeal raises significant points of importance in regards to the operation of minority safeguards, which impacts every council in Northern Ireland.”