A City Hall debate on the Government's controversial Troubles Bill has sparked a clash between Sinn Féin and the DUP.
One elected rep described the row as “a depressing sectarianisation of debate in City Hall”.
At the monthly meeting of the full council on Wednesday evening, an SDLP motion from Councillor Carl Whyte was carried, calling on the UK government to abandon the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill - largely seen as an amnesty against perpetrators of violence.
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However, Councillor Whyte said the debate over the matter took a “rush towards the bottom,” after exchanges between DUP Councillors Dean McCullough and Dale Pankhurst, two of the youngest elected representatives, and Sinn Féin party group leader Ciaran Beattie.
Councillor Whyte during his introduction to the motion, told the chamber his Grandmother had been killed in a UVF bombing which also took the life of an RUC officer in 1984. He read the entries covering these deaths from the Troubles text "Lost Lives".
He told the chamber: “We are a city known for our division and our conflict but I think we are a people who can come together and send out a signal with one voice. I hope tonight is one of those occasions.”
He said: “The bill has been called fairly succinctly, 'The bill of shame'. But to me it is 'the bill of abandonment'. It abandons the rule of law, the principle of accountability, and any hope of justice for the countless victims right across our city and across the North.
“It is a bill that sees the British government abandon partnership with the Irish government and the peace process, and abandons the European Convention of Human Rights, which was drafted by a Scottish Tory politician.”
He added: “In all likelihood, and the government knows this, it will fail in the courts, but they have gone ahead because of electoral promises to veterans.”
DUP Councillor Dean McCullough chose to focus his comments on victims of the Shankill bombing of 1993 by the IRA, and quoted a relative of two of the victims, who opposed an amnesty. Councillor McCullough said that Sinn Fein were part of a commemoration ceremony that unveiled a plaque to one of the bombers.
He said: “It is the height of hypocrisy, it has to be said, listening to the eulogisers and glorifiers of victim makers, talk of victims. If Sinn Fein are serious about victims, all victims, I call upon them tonight on behalf of the Murray family to call upon the army council.
“Rather, the so-called army council. They are not, never were and never will be an army - had they been, their leadership would have been in the Hague on charges of war crimes. According to the 2015 report on paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland, PIRA members and Sinn Fein believe in an overarching strategy to bring that long overdue justice to the Murray family. Lead by example.
“The Shankill bomb was the last in a systematic sustained and sectarian campaign to bomb the heart out of the Shankill and its people. That heart beats long after the IRA lost theirs.” He said: “Let me be clear, all victims deserve justice.”
Sinn Fein Councillor Ciaran Beattie said: “What we are after hearing is a very sad reflection from a young person, who probably wasn’t even born when a lot of these events happened. And yet you hear so much hatred coming through in their voice. A very one-sided narrow hatred.
“There has been a conflict, and we are a community and a city coming out of conflict. It is important for us all to build that peace. If we have individuals or parties who are trying to drag us back to where we were 30 or 40 years ago, before some of these people were even born, that is a sad reflection on them.
“If they haven’t learned any lessons from the last election, and probably the next election, then they need to adjudicate on their future. Bringing us all back to where that hurt, where that anger caused conflict, is not the place to be. I am actually embarrassed for the previous member. I think his words and his anger towards Sinn Fein is unfortunate.”
DUP Councillor Dale Pankhurst said: “It seems to be the Sinn Fein position - go after the Brits and the loyalists, good; go after the IRA, bad.”
He added: “Some of the comments here tonight towards Councillor McCullough were disgraceful. It is his perfect right as an elected representative to stand up and say what he wishes to say.”
In his summary, Councillor Whyte said: “I could have stood up tonight and launched a speech against the UVF, about paramilitaries, and given a very strong witness to the anguish and the suffering my family experienced. But I chose not to do that because we all have experienced trauma and suffering.”
Alliance Councillor Emmet McDonough Brown tweeted after the meeting: “A depressing sectarianisation of debate in Belfast City Hall tonight on victims. Whilst parties agree that an amnesty is wrong, unionism is making this about one part of our past. No “side” was perfect, there was wrong-doing across our community. It’s so sad they don’t see it.”
The agreed council motion states the proposals within the bill “fail to honour the UK’s obligation under the European Convention on Human Rights to carry out proper investigations into deaths and serious injuries that occurred during the NI conflict.”
It adds the council sees the bill as “a unilateral move by the UK government to abandon its commitment to the Stormont House Agreement, again demonstrating contempt for agreements made with international partners.”
It states: “This council echoes fears made by civil society and victims organisations that, under these proposals, the Secretary of State may in practice decide who gets immunity from prosecution.
“Accordingly, this council calls on the UK government to abandon this bill and return to the already agreed structures as outlined in the Stormont House Agreement and to recognise that no state or non-state actors should have control over how a victim seeks truth and justice.”
The motion passed without dissent, while the UUP abstained.
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