Showdown tonight in bid to undo nationalist block on Armed Forces Covenant at Belfast Council
A showdown bid to undo a nationalist block on Belfast Council accepting the Armed Forces Covenant is set to happen tonight (2nd).
Earlier this year the covenant, a set of pledges providing help for veterans struggling to adjust to civilian life, was thrown out by the council by a single vote due to nationalist opposition.
DUP attempts to overturn that decision come before a full council meeting tonight, during which the local authority’s veterans champion, alderman James Lawlor, is to bring a move to reconsider the idea of signing up to the covenant.
He wants the council to recognise “the unique skills that are held by Armed Forces service leaver” and that “many veterans can face disadvantages compared to the general population arising from military life when accessing services” – and as a result, sign up to the covenant’s pledges.
It comes after several months of wrangling over the move, and tonight’s meeting is likely the last chance unionists will have to convince politicians they should endorse the covenant.
Initially put before a council committee in November last year, the covenant was then sent to a different committee the following month, at which point it was rejected.
That rejection was overturned and the covenant approved at full council meeting in January, sending it back to the second committee for an equality screening that concluded signing up would have a “minor impact”.
Nationalists used that screening verdict to justify rejecting it a second time, and that was rubber-stamped by the full council in February – a debate won by just a single vote.