Stormont stays dark on victims day thanks to ‘perverse’ Sinn Fein

Jim Allister has lamented the fact that Stormont’s Parliament Buildings was not illuminated last night in order to mark the Europe-wide day of remembrance for terror victims.
Jim Allister QC MLAJim Allister QC MLA
Jim Allister QC MLA

An application had been made, and rejected, for the special lighting – as reported in the News Letter earlier this week.

Instead, St Anne’s Anglican cathedral in Belfast lit up red for the occasion.

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The last time Stormont was lit up for Troubles victims was 2019.

This refusal was down to the Assembly Commission, responsible for things like staff and property relating to the Assembly. It is made up of MLAs from the five main parties, and Sinn Fein currently holds the chairmanship.

Last night St Anne’s Cathedral in central Belfast was illuminated in honour of victims, in the absence of such a move at Stormont.

Mr Allister said Parliament Buildings “should have been illuminated to mark this day for innocent victims, but the perverse forces that come within Sinn Fein exercised their pernicious veto”.

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He accused the party of “vindictiveness” towards victims of the Troubles.

In relation to the lighting controversy, Sinn Fein earlier in the week had said: “Sinn Fein has proposed an inclusive lighting policy reflective of the wide diversity of our society, which would be open to health and charity campaigns which have sadly fallen outside the current criteria.

“The Assembly building is currently lit up on four occasions a year. Other requests are processed in line with an Assembly Commission criteria agreed 20 years ago. That criteria is outdated and outmoded.”

Despite refusing to light up Stormont in 2020 or 2021 for Troubles victims, a request was granted last year to use special yellow lighting in honour of the Black Lives Matter movement, following the death of George Floyd while high on fentanyl and being subdued by police in Minnesota, USA, 3,700 miles away.

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