Sinn Fein criticised for ‘call-in’ of city hall statue plan

Statues of trade unionist Inez McCormack and SDLP co-founder Paddy Devlin are among the proposals for honouring prominent Belfast citizens. The plan was due for approval at tonight’s meeting of Belfast City Council.

But Sinn Fein group leader on the council, Ciaran Beattie, submitted a motion for discussion to address what he called “the imbalance of statues” in the grounds of City Hall.

The ‘call-in’ procedure can be requested if 15% of councillors believe it was not properly reached or would adversely affect a section of the community. An independent lawyer is then asked to examine the motion and determine whether it should be reconsidered.

Carney was a suffragette and trade unionist who acted as secretary to James Connolly in the 1916 Easter Rising.

The motion stated: “The current statues largely represent the unionist/British tradition, with no reflection afforded to the republican tradition.

“The Irish Congress of Trade Unions proposed in writing to the chief executive on March 2, 2016 that a statue of Winifred Carney be installed, due to her history and success in Belfast.

“Accordingly, the council agrees that a permanent statue of Winifred Carney be installed to address that imbalance.”

DUP councillor Lee Reynolds accused the Sinn Fein of “throwing the dummy out of the pram”.

He told the News Letter: “For a number of years on this council the progressive coalition voted together, which assisted Sinn Fein in getting its own way a highly disproportionate amount of the time.

“On this occasion five parties have come together to make an agreement and the response of SF has been to try and bully people by threatening all sorts of legal action.”

Although the plan does not include a permanent tribute to Carney, it is proposed that she be recognised in a time-limited installation at city hall.