Newry Mourne and Down councillors agree to Ulster Scots Group after DUP councillors leave Good Relations Group in protest over imposing Irish language signs
Newry Mourne and Down District Council has agreed to create an Ulster Scots working group - after unionists walked out of a "Good Relations Group" which decided to impose Irish language signs in unionist areas against the wishes of ratepayers.
DUP councillors walked out of the council's Equality and Good Relations Group meeting in June after it voted to impose Irish language welcome signs on all council on 90 towns and villages - including predominantly unionist ones.
DUP councillors said they had spent six years trying to reason with non-unionists on the committee against the move.
UUP councillor David Taylor said unionists had approached the issue “constructively” during 12 committee meetings, but that republicans and nationalists “decided to ignore genuine unionist concerns”.
The council confirmed to the News Letter that an official consultation meeting with representatives of the Rowallane District Electoral Area (DEA) Forum on 27 September 2023 determined that the area wanted "English only signage".
However, nationalist councillors ignored the plea and are moving forward with plans to erect to Irish language welcome signs across Rowallane district, including settlements such as Ballynahinch, Crossgar and Killyleagh, Derryboy, Kilmore and Saintfield.
Now in a joint statement, the five DUP councillors on the local authority welcomed the vote by the full council on Monday night to create an Ulster Scots Working Group, in order to give unionist more say in such decisions.
It is understood the DUP has not yet decided whether to rejoin the Good Relations Group.
The DUP councillors said: "It was of course the persistent lack of respect towards unionists on the council which led our party to leave the so-called Equality & Good Relations Reference Group five months ago."
The councillors said that other parties have now acknowledged in a joint letter that the Good Relations Group “does not operate as effectively without the DUP’s input”.
The DUP added: "Consensus politics must be applied on issues of equality. In June, we made clear that we would not be rejoining this non-statutory reference group until our concerns were addressed around the imposition of Irish signage in largely Protestant Unionist and Loyalist, the free rein of republican motions heard in the council chamber, and the procedures for community consultation on issues affecting unionists not being followed."
They said the unanimous vote in favour of the new Ulster Scots Group is "welcome progress" and argued that they now need to see "comprehensive strategies and policies put in place, just as Irish has enjoyed for many years".
"Time will tell whether this new working group can make a tangible difference to how the district’s rich Ulster-Scots/British heritage, culture and language is promoted through the council’s events programme, tourism strategy, community funding, and public displays. These are the types of changes that will foster genuine good relations within Newry, Mourne and Down."
Responding, Newry, Mourne and Down District Council confirmed that the Equality and Good Relations Forum unanimously agreed to the creation of an Ulster Scots British Working Group on 8 October. The recommendation was approved by the Strategy Policy and Resources Committee on 16 October and then by the full council on 3 November.
The full title of the group and its Terms of Reference will be agreed at its first meeting, the council added.