Lawsuit over Belfast City Hall abortion lights: Move could see council dragged through courts to judicial review
A legal challenge has been launched that could see Belfast Council dragged through the courts over its decision to illuminate city hall in support of an abortion campaign.
In a little over one week, the landmark building is to be lit in green near to mark International Safe Abortion Day, a move that has sparked huge controversy with pro-life activists planning to protest the event.
The decision is already being challenged within the council by the DUP, but this week a private individual lodged a lawsuit that could see the council taken to judicial review.
The person behind the litigation wishes to remain anonymous at this time, but is understood to be a long-standing Belfast pro-life campaigner who has appointed the group Precious Life to speak on their behalf.
Precious Life say the lawsuit raises questions about the council’s civic neutrality, equality policies and transparency, the group’s director Bernadette Smyth stating: “This legal challenge is not based simply on the fact that abortion is controversial.
"The central issue is whether the city council properly considered its legal duties and the interests of the whole civic community before using one of Belfast’s most prominent public symbols to support a particular abortion campaign.”
The litigation seeks he “suspension and withdrawal” of the September 28 illumination, she said, or alternatively a “lawful reconsideration of the decision” after rigorous equality, human-rights and good-relations tests – which could potentially see the case pushed all the way to the High Court for a judicial review.
Added the pro-life activist: “We welcome this important challenge.
“Belfast City Hall belongs to everyone. Those who believe in the protection of unborn babies should not be treated as though their rights and concerns don’t exist.”
The illumination was initially voted through without debate at a committee near the end of August, though the DUP this month brought the issue to the floor of the full council in an attempt to stop it.
Despite unionists speaking out against the move, however, it was pushed through on a combination of Sinn Fein, SDLP, Alliance, Green and People Before Profit votes.
The Democratic Unionists subsequently lodged a ‘call-in’ of the decision, which could see it brought back for another round of debates or even stopped altogether – though the clock is ticking as the September 28 deadline nears.