Sinn Fein isolated as only Executive party to veto monument marking centenary of Northern Ireland

In January the DUP, UUP and TUV wrote to the Assembly Commission - a committee of MLAs which manages Stormont estate matters - proposing a stone monument with a map of Northern Ireland, acknowledging the centenary of its creation and offering to cover the cost in full.

However instead of offering constructive feedback, Sinn Fein has instead rejected it outright. The party said it would have been more appropriate if unionists who proposed the stone “had first discussed this proposal with the other parties”. It also said that the design signified a failed state which did not offer a template for the future.

The SDLP responded yesterday that it recognises the importance of this centenary year to communities across Northern Ireland.

“It is important that we find a way of reflecting the stark experiences of partition and the formation of Northern Ireland and its impact on people,” a spokesman said. “In a spirit of generosity, we were therefore supportive of the proposal which would have come at no cost to taxpayers and clearly had a great deal of meaning for unionists.”

Alliance also confirmed it supported the proposal as “a modest plan to commemorate a significant event”. It added: “The stone was intended for the Stormont Estate and was only one component of an overall series of proposals to mark the centenary of Northern Ireland this year.”

TUV leader Jim Allister responded that the Assembly’s 2016-2021 Good Relations Action Plan committed to ‘the promotion of good relations between persons of differing religious belief, political opinion or racial group and is committed to challenging sectarianism and racism’.

He added: “In rejecting out of hand the proposal of a monument, which would not involve any cost to the public purse, marking the centenary of Northern Ireland I believe the Commission has self-evidently failed to live up to this.

“The design of the monument and the proposed wording is deliberately uncontroversial and it would have been an appropriate way to acknowledge the occasion while promoting respect and equality. Yet Sinn Fein, who like to talk loudest about equality and everyone being equal, stand exposed yet again.”

Slugger O’Toole Editor Mick said: “The SDLP’s more positive position and general outlook on the increasing diversity of the people of Northern Ireland shows the Sinn Féin response for what it really is, a cheap sectarian reflex to a reasonable request that comes at zero cost to the taxpayer.”

He added that nationalist parties that support the Good Friday Agreement also affirm the existence of NI.

Commentator Malachi O’Doherty said Sinn Féin has made a run of bad decisions. “This makes me wonder if the talent at the top, the people who are thinking through policies and strategies, are just not that bright?” he said.

“Look at their campaign around the refreshing of the electoral register, their response to the policing of the Seam Graham bookies massacre commemoration, their decision to abstain from the abortion vote; it all smacks of a party that is delegating its thinking to people who are not very clever or consistent.”

Arlene Foster, Steve Aiken and Jim Allister responded that those they represent are left to ponder that if this is how unionists are treated in NI “just how much more oppressive would our treatment be” in the ‘New Ireland’ Sinn Fein promotes.

The News Letter asked Sinn Fein if it was open to improving the proposal and if it was happy with how unionists had facilitated the Easter Rising centenary. However the party declined to offer any response.

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