A significant number of Ards and North Down councillors have voted against the borough hosting the original Good Friday Agreement document, which is going on tour around Northern Ireland’s 11 councils.
At the April meeting of the full Ards and North Down Council, out of a chamber of 40 councillors, 18 elected representatives voted in favour of hosting the document, while 15 voted against it.
The vote was not recorded and neither was the party make-up of the vote, however two members of the DUP and one independent unionist questioned the cost to the council of hosting the document.
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Ards and North Down has the smallest representation of nationalism of any of Northern Ireland’s councils, with only one SDLP councillor. The current make-up of the chamber has 13 DUP members, nine from Alliance, seven UUP, three Greens, six independents one SDLP, and a seat currently vacant at Hollywood and Clandeboye.
Five of the six independents in the council are all unionist, with some former DUP and TUV representatives - giving the council a current unionist weighted majority of 25. Twenty five years ago the DUP voted against the Good Friday Agreement.
The National Archives holds the UK Government copy of the agreement and has loaned it to the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland to facilitate display commemorating the 25th anniversary, at the behest of the Northern Ireland Office. It will be on display across council areas until May 17.
The council report on the matter lists a number of safety requirements for the historic document. They include the necessity for it to be displayed in a room without food and drink, in a room with one entrance/exit, and without open windows.
Other requirements involve an appropriately sized table, security staff to check visitors bags and coats, the constant supervision of a PRONI staff member, and provision of interpreters.
Ards and North Down Council Chief Executive Stephen Reid said security staff provision would be met within the current council budget, but extra would have to be found for interpreters. He did not disclose an amount, and said a venue would not be decided upon until the council decision was made.
DUP Councillor Jennifer Gilmour said: “This is to protect a book, a piece of paper in a room.” She added: “We can find the resources to look after a piece of paper, while residents of our borough, who are our ratepayers, are suffering because we can’t find the resources to stop anti-social behaviour and protect our play parks from being vandalised after hours.
“It’s nuts to me. We can find resources when we want to, so I am sorry but I can’t support this.”
Alliance Councillor Victoria Moore told the chamber: “The agreement has brought immeasurable benefits to Northern Ireland, and our work of course isn’t done. But I feel very strongly this is an important opportunity to bring the officially held document to our borough, to give residents the opportunity, especially those young people for whom 1998 is another world.”
DUP Alderman Stephen McIlveen said: “The original copies were printed within the Northern Ireland Civil Service print division, and that is a service that has been given very little recognition over the role they played, in terms of having it laid before parliament.
“If we were going to display the agreement, and I imagine with some kind of interpretive signage, then certainly I would like to see the signage recognising the role of those staff within the civil service. They talk about the politicians being up all night - the staff came in and worked all night getting the typefaces done, to get it printed and delivered on time.
“They did an incredible job. I did not support the agreement at the time, but we recognise the work the civil servants did, and if we are displaying it, we have to recognise the staff on the night.”
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