Sinn Féin weaponising planning process to block Northern Ireland Centenary Stone
Sinn Féin weaponising planning process to block Northern Ireland Centenary Stone
As reported by the Belfast Telegraph, the centenary stone, conceived as a fitting tribute to Northern Ireland's 100th anniversary and already cleared through proper equality screening, has been subjected to five years of delay driven by an orchestrated Sinn Féin campaign of obstruction. While unionists have demonstrated genuine respect for nationalist identity at Stormont, Sinn Féin's cynical use of the planning process exposes a blatant hypocrisy from a party that has never applied the same standards to memorials honouring IRA terrorists.
Ulster Unionist Party Leader Jon Burrows MLA commented:
"The centenary of Northern Ireland was a profound milestone, one that brought immense pride to unionists and many others across Northern Ireland. The centenary stone was conceived as a fitting tribute to that moment, joining the many symbols of historic significance that already exist across the Stormont estate.
"For Sinn Féin to mount an orchestrated, copy and paste campaign to block it speaks volumes about the contempt they hold for unionist identity. When Unionists allowed an ash tree to be planted at Stormont to mark the 125th anniversary of the GAA, despite reservations about the organisation having stadiums and cups named after Provisional IRA members, there was no deliberate obstruction. That was respect. What Sinn Féin is doing now is the precise opposite.
"The hypocrisy is stark. This is the same party that defended the erection of a Bobby Sands statue without so much as a planning application, and that is just one example among many memorials to IRA terrorists that have appeared across Northern Ireland with little to no planning process whatsoever. Yet they are now weaponising that very same planning process to block a simple commemorative stone that has already been through proper equality screening and been found to have no adverse impact. Five years have passed. Further delay is not acceptable. This stone should be erected without further obstruction. Mutual respect requires actions not words."