Integrity of Northern Ireland's planning laws at stake over Sinn Fein billboard debacle

Serious questions remain over an illegal billboard in Newry – with the integrity of Northern Ireland’s planning laws at stake, the DUP chair of Stormont’s infrastructure committee has said.

Peter Martin also says that “multiple unauthorised displays carrying Sinn Fein branding” have been identified across County Armagh – and urged compliance with planning laws.

placeholder image — Liz Kimmins says a billboard in Newry which has long featured Sinn Fein posters, is not a Sinn Fein billboard. Photo: TUV.

It comes amid an ongoing row over a billboard at the Egyptian Arch in Newry which has hosted Sinn Fein posters. However, the republican party’s infrastructure minister has said there is “no Sinn Fein billboard” at the site.

Liz Kimmins has pointed to the fact that the billboard now carries a pro-Palestine message as evidence that her party does not own it. Last week, Mr Martin discovered via a Freedom of Information (FOI) request that Ms Kimmins’s department had written to her own Sinn Fein office manager seeking the removal of the billboard.

TUV councillor Keith Ratcliffe also uncovered emails which he said showed an expectation by the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) that SF would “arrange for all these illegal advertisements to be removed immediately”.

Now, infrastructure committee chair Peter Martin says that the Newry structure was mounted on posts, some of which appeared to be situated on DfI land – raising “obvious enforcement questions”.

“Departmental correspondence states that officials asked those responsible for erecting the billboard to remove it. The public is entitled to know who the Department believed those responsible parties to be and why the structure remains.

“This is also a public safety issue. If this structure were to fail, causing damage or injury, who would be accountable? These are basic and legitimate questions.

“Multiple unauthorised displays carrying Sinn Fein branding have been identified across County Armagh. Compliance with planning and advertising law cannot be selective.

“If the largest party in government is playing fast and loose with planning enforcement, it risks undermining public confidence in the entire system”, the North Down MLA said.

The Department for Infrastructure has been contacted for comment.