Attitude to the Northern Ireland centenary ‘shows Sinn Fein just does not recognise Britishness,’ says Lord Empey

The former Stormont minister said it is part of a pattern of recent behaviour, which saw Sinn Fein oppose the illumination of Belfast City Hall in special lighting to mark the centenary, as well as blocking a memorial stone in the grounds of Stormont bearing the words “erected to mark the centenary of Northern Ireland 1921–2021”.

The republican party has said that “there is nothing to celebrate about the partition”, and that the memorial stone in particular was not “inclusive”.

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He was speaking in the wake of Friday’s front page story in the News Letter, about how Sinn Fein communities minister Deirdre Hargey had not allocated any cash to mark NI’s 100th anniversary.

The Department for Communities (DfC) is largely devoted to housing, but also covers culture and the arts.

It currently runs 14 different grant schemes worth at least £8.6m combined, including one specifically for promoting the Irish language.

But at a meeting of the communities committee on Thursday, DUP MLA Stephen Dunne announced: “I’d just like to put on record [my] disappointment.

“I got a reply back from the communities minister, that no level of funding or support was provided by her department for the purpose of marking the Northern Ireland centenary.

“I’d like to propose the committee could write to the minister expressing disappointment about that.”

The proposal was nodded through without any objections.

Ms Hargey said that the Northern Ireland Office is “in the lead” when it comes to marking the centenary.

“A £3m fund has been set up by the British government, which includes £1m of funding to be distributed through the National Lottery Heritage Fund,” she said.

Lord Empey – who was formerly the minister for employment, the minister for enterprise, and the acting First Minister of Northern Ireland – said: “Recent events and the activities of Sinn Fein, both at Stormont and City Hall, and their stewardship of DfC, illustrates that equality doesn’t come into it.

“If you can’t turn lights on to mark an event – even a simple thing like that, the lighting of City Hall, the lighting of Stormont – it all shows their commitment is from the teeth out; it’s their way or no way.

“Everything’s alright... as long as it’s their centenaries.

“They don’t really recognise Britishness at all, at any level, as far as I can see.

“My fundamental point is I think Sinn Fein have proved conclusively that they do not regard people who see themselves as British as equals...

“That’s the big takeaway lesson.”

BREAKING DOWN THE DEPARTMENT’S GRANTS:

In any case, it appears the minister was wrong (albeit not in a big way) when she said her department did not fund any centenary events.

The Department for Communities keeps a register of the grants it has handed out.

This states that three small DfC grants have indeed been provided for activities linked to the 1921 establishment of the state.

One was given to Benview Community Centre in north Belfast (£1,064), with the aim of “promoting positive community relations through the Northern Ireland centenary”.

There are also two grants (£1,400 each) listed for something called the Longstone Community Group, marked simply: “NI100 centenary event”.

By combing through all 14 DfC grant schemes which are open at the moment, the News Letter has identified about £8.6m-worth funding that was parcelled out during 2020/21.

These grants range from tens of thousands of pounds to just a few hundred, for everything from GAA clubs to Protestant flute bands.

However, the Irish language gets its own overarching scheme.

Titled An Ciste Tionscadal (which means simply “The Project Fund”) it is one of the 14 overall grant projects the DfC currently runs, and it has handed out £10,800 apiece to three organisations, to help promote the Irish language.

They are Coiste Forbartha Charn Tóchair (a community group in Carntogher, on the edge of the Sperrins);

Coiste Ghaeloideachas Chromghlinne, a charity in south-west Co Antrim;

And Friends of Sliabh Fuait, a Co Armagh nature group.

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