SF wanted to remove word '˜atrocity' from council bomb memorial motion

The DUP had submitted a motion ahead of the 45th anniversary of the 1973 Coleraine bombing seeking to establish a permanent memorial and organise a service for the families of those killed.

Sinn Fein councillor Sean McGlinchey, who served 18 years in prison for the bombing, was present in the council chamber in Coleraine on Tuesday for the debate.

Six Protestant pensioners were killed in the blast at Railway Road in the town centre on June 12, 1973.

While Mr McGlinchey had told the News Letter last week he would not oppose the motion, his party colleague Kieran Mulholland submitted an amendment to the DUP motion on Tuesday evening.

The amendment removed the words “atrocity” and “heinous act of terrorism by the Provisional IRA”, and sought to dedicate the memorial to “all those who lost their lives as a result of our recent conflict”.

DUP councillor Alan McLean, who proposed the original motion, said: “I’m not surprised. They would have a habit of trying to rewrite history, so it wasn’t a surprise that they would try and adjust the motion in that manner.

“In reality, we would have no difficulty remembering anyone who was a truly innocent victim. Anything that was in the motion was factual, I would have no problem standing+ over the motion.”

He added: “It was an atrocity. It was a heinous act of terrorism carried out by the IRA.

“They (Sinn Fein) were trying to maybe remove something that was offensive to them.”

In the event, the Sinn Fein amendment failed and the original motion was passed with the support of both the SDLP and the unionist parties in the Causeway Coast and Glens council. Sinn Fein abstained from the final vote.

“There was cross-community support, there was cross-party support, so I was quite pleased with that,” Mr McLean said.

“The motion wasn’t about political point scoring, it wasn’t about tit-for-tat. It was about those who were killed, it was about the relatives.

“I don’t know what Sinn Fein were trying to do, but we stuck to our guns and we’re very pleased.”

Mr Mulholland said: “I proposed an amendment that would have provided for a memorial to the victims of the Coleraine bombing in an inclusive way that recognised the pain and suffering of all victims. The legacy of the conflict and the suffering of victims and survivors should be addressed in a holistic way.”