Ards and North Down Borough Council has decided to allow local orange lodges to apply for funding despite the move being contrary to its own policy and the recommendations of its officers.
At the last full meeting of Ards and North Down Council before the May elections, unionist elected representatives pushed through a decision to allow Comber District Loyal Orange Lodge and Bangor District Loyal Orange Lodge to apply for up to £20,000 each from the Ards and North Down Events and Festivals Fund.
This is despite council officers recommending elected representatives to reject the request from both lodges, as the applications were “ineligible for scoring.”
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The council report referred to applications being not accepted from “any event/festival that is perceived to support or promote any religious or political dimension.”
Ards and North Down Council has set aside £175,000 for the events and festivals fund, and is expecting £31,400 in match funding from the Stormont Department for Communities. DfC stated in its letter of offer the council must “ensure that all events funded promote the principles of inclusion and comply with equality requirements”.
The council report states: “In March 2023, the council requested that officers review two applications submitted under tranche one, which had been deemed by the panel ineligible for scoring, namely: Comber District Loyal Orange Lodge - 'A Celebration of Orange Culture', and Bangor District Loyal Orange Lodge, 'the Boyne Anniversary'.”
It adds: “The panel met again to specifically review the two ineligible applications. The decision that both applications from Bangor and Comber Loyal Orange Lodges were ineligible were upheld. The panel agreed the applications were ineligible due to the highlighted section taken from the guidance notes.”
The report went on to recommend the panel-approved applications to elected representatives, the releasing of council money to the successful applicants, and for the council to agree the orange lodges’ applications were unacceptable.
However, Independent Unionist, and former member of the DUP, Alderman Wesley Irvine, proposed to the chamber that the advice on the lodges should be ignored.
He firstly moved the amendment that: “The council should recognise the cultural significance of the July 12th celebrations and awards Comber District Loyal Orange Lodge and Bangor District Loyal Orange Lodge tranche one funding at the level requested in their applications.”
Alderman Irvine, himself a member of the Orange Order, said: “It will be one of the biggest events held in this borough in 2023. At the last event held in Bangor there were about 35,000 people estimated to be here by the PSNI.
“It is an event looked forward to by so many, and has also seen an increase in international visitors to enjoy the spectacle in recent years. This is exactly the type of event this fund was set up to fund.
“The council had a clear path that they wanted to see - community, volunteer-led events to take pressure off the council, and this is certainly what this event does. In terms of the DfC element, it refers to inclusivity - the organisers of this event I am sure do welcome everybody to this particular event.”
A council director stated that the orange lodge applications did not get through the first stage of a two stage application, and if it passed the eligibility criteria it would then have to go through a scoring process, as all other applications- were obliged to. He said: “We wouldn’t normally grant any award without assessing and scoring it.”
Alliance Councillor Gavin Walker said: “It feels dangerous for us as members at this stage to be dictating to those who are supposed to be independent judging panels, on how our money goes out. I understand the concern people have in the chamber, and if they want to change how things are done, that’s perfectly OK.
“But if we go ahead with this we open doors for other organisations to come back and say 'if you don’t have a sensible way of doing this, if you are not going by your own processes, then we will come back in and ask for money as well'. There is a whole list of people who did not get from this particular fund.”
Alderman Irvine altered his proposal from the council pushing through the funding for the orange lodges, to the council deeming the lodges eligible for funding, with a scoring process to be held “at the earliest opportunity.”
On a recorded vote, 25 from the DUP, UUP, unionist independents and from the Green party supported the proposal, while 10 from Alliance and the Green Party voted against the proposal. The Greens were the only party split on the matter, with two voting in favour, and one against. The single nationalist politician, SDLP Councillor Joe Boyle, was absent.
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