Ards and North Down Council is looking at legal routes to allow the banning of funding for “political” sporting organisations.
The motion, forwarded by the TUV and amended by the DUP, was passed at the council’s recent Corporate Services Committee. It states that “council officers bring back a report on relevant council policies, with a view to withdrawing funding to any sporting organisations with any political objectives or named references to terrorism in their constitution, club names, stadiums or competitions, and such a report will be appropriately guided by legal advice in relation to this course of action”.
The Alliance Party, who voted against the motion, said people in the borough could believe it was “targeted” at one group of sports organisations. While no one mentioned any specific organisations, there is speculation the Gaelic Athletic Association is the perceived 'target' organisation.
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Ards and North Down Council has the smallest proportion of nationalist representation in all of Northern Ireland’s 11 councils, with only one SDLP councillor out of 40 elected members.
At the committee, DUP Alderman Stephen McIlveen amended the original TUV motion - which simply proposed withdrawing funding - with a proposal for a report looking into the matter with legal advice.
He said: “I have a few niggly concerns around it - if for instance this council is merely the conduit through which funding comes, and it is not necessarily council funding we are managing, and we are using principles and guidance from say the Department for Communities - I don’t know if it would even be possible for us to do it.
“It is that sort of minefield we have to negotiate whenever we are making a decision such as this. I completely appreciate the principles behind the motion but this tidies it up and puts it on a surer footing, for whenever we are reaching a decision.”
UUP Councillor David Chambers said: “It is a big statement to withdraw funding from anyone, so we really have to make sure it is done the right way, and due process is followed, and for that reason I feel much more comfortable supporting the amendment.”
Alliance Councillor Hannah Irwin said she was “disappointed” by the motion and said Alliance was “wholeheartedly against the spirit of this motion”. She said: “It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Alliance is opposed to terrorism in all its forms, and a shared future is absolutely a priority for us.
“However there is a risk that residents in the borough may perceive this motion as being intended to target one group of sports organisations in the borough - one which continues to contribute positively in great ways to local communities here. Or it potentially could be perceived as even worse.”
The Alliance councillor did not name the group of sports organisations.
Independent Unionist Councillor Tom Smith said: “No one is picking on any particular organisation - this is all sporting organisations we are looking at, and if they have those things as described in the motion, then I think we should withdraw funding.
“Why should we be funding sporting organisations that has references to terrorism in their constitution or that has shrines to terrorism on their grounds?”
Alliance Councillor Gillian Greer asked the proposer of the motion to give examples of the sporting organisations he had in mind, and asked where there any examples of organisations in the borough.
TUV Councillor Stephen Cooper did not address this request, but said the amendment would “tighten up” his original motion. He said: “I am very disappointed in Alliance. If you are against terrorism, you are against terrorism, full stop. Not supporting this amendment cries of hypocrisy.
“This is 2022, we need to move on, the next generation is coming through, and I don’t want them to go through what I had to go through. Sport is the one common denominator that unites everyone together, everyone from all over Northern Ireland and beyond.
“This isn’t about unionist or nationalist, this is about terrorism.”
On a recorded vote, 10 voted for the amendment, from the DUP, the UUP and the TUV, alongside two independent unionists, and six voted against the amendment, from Alliance, the Greens, and one independent.
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