Mystery surrounds council boss’s PR move over top IRA man’s funeral
This afternoon Belfast City Council chief executive Suzanne Wylie and senior council executive Nigel Grimshaw issued what they described as a “personal statement” through public relations firm Brown O’Connor - even though the council has its own team of press officers.
Council veterans said that such a move was in their experience unprecedented.
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Hide AdThe council itself did not explain why the statement had been made and the PR firm declined to confirm if Ms Wylie and Mr Grimshaw were personally paying for its services.
The content of the statement left several senior councillors expressing private confusion because it expressed regret for what had happened at Mr Storey’s funeral – something which the council had done in its own statement three days earlier.
Today’s statement said: “We would like to reiterate our sincerest apologies to those families who were affected by events on the 30th June at Roselawn. We recognise that this is unacceptable, and we apologise to those families wholeheartedly and unreservedly.
“A report is being prepared for the council on the facts of the case. This will clarify the sequence of events that took place, and what measures the council will take to ensure that a situation like this does not happen again.”
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Hide AdThe statement went on to allude to unhappiness at something – but did not specify what it was, and several councillors said that the reference made no sense to them.
It said: “We are concerned about certain statements and comments that have been made, and the impact these may have on our roles in Belfast City Council. We are formally raising these issues with party leaders and the chair of the strategic policy and resources committee.
“Due to an ongoing process, we will not be commenting further.”
The unorthodox personal statement came as Ms Wylie, Mr Grimshaw and other council staff face the likelihood of an independent investigation into not only how Bobby Storey’s funeral was treated preferentially, but how the council issued a press release last Friday which gave the impression that the senior Sinn Féin figure had not been treated differently to other families – something only revealed by the Nolan Show on Monday.
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Hide AdBelfast City Council will meet tomorrow after the DUP called a special meeting of the council to consider setting up an independent investigation into its role in Bobby Storey’s funeral.
The DUP motion calls for “an independent person to investigate this situation and to provide a written report to the council”.
The motion, which is expected to attract cross-party support, would give the city solicitor – a council employee – the right to censor parts of the report if he deems that “legally necessary or otherwise appropriate” before it is published on the council website.
Sinn Féin fails to stop move towards Stormont inquiry
The Assembly committee which scrutinises Michelle O’Neill and Arlene Foster’s department has agreed to commission legal advice on setting up an inquiry into the deputy First Minister’s actions at Bobby Storey’s funeral.
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Hide AdSinn Féin failed in an attempt to stop the Committee for The Executive Office from exploring setting up its own investigation into last week’s events.
Such an investigation would be nothing like a public inquiry, but would nevertheless involve considerable powers to compel the appearance of witnesses and the production of documents.
DUP MLA Christopher Stalford made the proposal, arguing that there was a compelling public interest in investigating what happened last week.
UUP MLA Doug Beattie agreed, saying: “We cannot turn a blind eye – we cannot say it’s done and dusted”
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Hide AdSinn Féin MLA Pat Sheehan, who was at the funeral, argued against the proposal, saying “I’m not sure what the purpose of this actually is” and asked if a minister could attend an even as an MLA or a party leader “in a completely different capacity”.
He added: “We don’t want to be trespassing on the PSNI’s ground...it’s not a job for a committee of the Assembly, I would think – that would be prejudicial, I would think.”
And independent former Alliance MLA Trevor Lunn also queried the point of asking for legal advice on setting up an inquiry, saying that it “smacks of flogging a dead horse”.
However, MLAs agreed to commission the legal advice and then take a decision on whether to set up an inquiry.
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