08/07/2021

Sinn Féin And DUP Clash Over North Belfast Bonfire

Sinn Féin and the DUP have butted heads over a bonfire in Adam Street within the Tigers Bay community.

North Belfast Sinn Féin MLA Carál Ní Chuilín says children in the New Lodge area are "terrified in their own homes and afraid to go outside".

Issuing a statement, she said: "Homes and gardens are being pelted with masonry and golf balls with children being left in tears, leading to restlessness, anxiety, bed-wetting and nail-biting.

"There is loud music into the early hours of the morning, together with associated anti-social behaviour and children are not able to sleep in their own beds. 

"This is absolutely unacceptable."

DUP Deputy Leader Paula Bradley MLA hit back at the media coverage surrounding the bonfire, adding: "Sinn Fein's leader in the Republic of Ireland, Mary Lou McDonald, who has no mandate in Northern Ireland, said: 'Everybody has a right to live free from sectarian harassment.' Does she include the Tigers Bay community, that has come under sustained sectarian attack over recent weeks, months and years, in that?

"This bonfire is not contentious in the community within which it sits. It is only deemed contentious by those who talk about respect but cannot bring themselves to respect the sight of their neighbour's culture. The Chief Constable would do well to remember that when making statements."

Sinn Féin are now looking into an urgent meeting to discuss the impact of the tensions on local children in New Lodge.

Related Northern Ireland News Stories
Click here for the latest headlines.

10 February 2005
SF members sanctioned robbery – IMC report
The International Monitoring Commission (IMC) has said the IRA was behind last December’s Northern Bank robbery and that senior members of Sinn Fein had sanctioned the raid. In it’s fourth report, specially published as a result of the £26.
27 May 2003
Sinn Fein launch collusion dossier
Sinn Féin have launched a document aimed at highlighting specific alleged collusion between loyalist paramilitaries and security forces. It emergerdf that the document was presented to Taoiseach Bertie Ahern during Saturday's talks between the Irish Government and the Sinn Fein leadership.
19 December 2001
House of Commons votes to allow Sinn Féin offices
The House of Commons has voted to allow the four Sinn Fein members office space and access to allowances enjoyed by other MPs. Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith condemned the decision saying that it would create a two-tier system of MPs.
05 October 2021
SF Disappointed At Lack of Support For Illegal Bonfire Legislation
Sinn Féin have expressed their disappointment at the lack of support for legislation to regulate illegal bonfires.
10 July 2014
SF Election Posters Removed From Bonfire
Election posters featuring Sinn Féin's Brenda Chivers and Rory Donaghy have been removed from an unlit bonfire in Limavady, County L'Derry. The bonfire at Anderson Park, near Edenmore Road, has been constructed in anticipation of the 'Eleventh Night' bonfires that occur across Northern Ireland.