Debate contribution: Bonfire Regulation

Debate contribution by Miss Deirdre Hargey on 16 September 2025.

MLA

Miss Deirdre Hargey

Party at the time

Sinn Féin

Date

16 September 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Bonfire Regulation

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5111687

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thanks very much. Thank you to everybody who spoke on today's motion. I listened intently, even to those with whom I may not directly agree. We will have differing opinions and views. Do you know what? That is OK. That is what a political Chamber is for. Once the summer months are over, we often forget about and move on from the issue of bonfires and the matters that pertain to them. By "we", I mean not just politicians but the agencies, which, I am sure, give a sigh of relief once July and August are over and the bonfires are forgotten about. However, the residents and those impacted on do not forget about them. They probably live in fear as they anticipate more going up the following year. It is important that we do not leave it until May and June of next year and that we try to engage on and look at the issues. It is in that context that we tabled the motion. It is important that we have a unified voice, and I still have hope that we can have a unified voice on the motion. I do not believe that it is a contentious motion or an attack on culture. Nowhere in the motion have we said that we do not want to see bonfires.

Yes, go on ahead.

We are here to talk about the motion on the regulation of bonfires.

If you want to talk about other issues, I am happy to engage on those issues. Mr Gaston is laughing, but he does not even talk to any of us in the corridor or wish to engage, so how can we overcome contentious issues if he will not even sit down with other people who are elected to the House and have conversations and engage with them? I am willing to do that. The question is this: is he? I am willing to look at that. I do not believe that the motion is an attack on culture. I believe that it is a logical and common-sense approach that focuses on public safety, of life and property, and on limiting the impact on environmental damage. It focuses on an end to sectarian and racist displays. I do not care whether that is a bonfire in a loyalist community or one in a republican/nationalist community. Such displays are disgraceful. They should not happen, and we should all work to ensure that they are removed. The motion is also about the location of bonfires. Some are deliberately built in interface areas. The Adam Street bonfire was mentioned earlier, and there was criticism of it. If, however, Members look at the judgement from Justice Horner pertaining to the clear ground rules that need to be in place for bonfires, particularly where their location is contentious, they will see that he said, in summary, that there should be clear ground rules for their construction, size and, importantly, location. I believe that bonfires or any such structures should not be built at interface or flashpoint areas, because their being built there is about trying to create contention, and that is what has happened in places such as Adam Street. I therefore stand over the action that has been taken on those issues. Our focus is not on every bonfire. It is on some bonfires at which such issues have manifested themselves. As I said, those issues include bonfires being built at particular locations and at interfaces, health and safety concerns, environmental damage and displays of hate. It is, however, important to praise good work as well, and we have done so in the past. I have praised the good work that has been done in the Woodvale area. I have praised the good work that has been done by Féile na hAbhann in my constituency of South Belfast, which translates as the "Festival of the River". In that community, the work is to replace unwanted bonfires, but the Woodvale bonfire is about how that community wants to celebrate its culture. Indeed, Belfast City Council has supported both programmes and got broad party support for them. They are models of good practice, and it is important to speak about those models of good practice. Our motion calls for people to act within the confines of existing laws and for regulation to oversee bonfires. I believe that, with community engagement and participation, regulation can work. Regulation can also give communities clarity. That is important. If they believe that bonfires are an important part of their culture, and they want to continue to have them, they will see that regulation is not a dictatorship. It can give clarity to those communities on how they can keep within the confines of the law and enjoy their day by doing so. I come from a working-class community. I still live in the community in which I was born and bred. My background is in community organising, and I do not believe for one minute that any type of regulation, whether it is on bonfires or children's safety at summer schemes, or anything else, is top-down. It can be bottom-up, and, as such, it can provide clarity.

I will give way in a moment. I want to move on a bit. The issues have been highlighted, and many Members have talked about FICT report that was published a number of years ago. I agree that we need to see the establishment of the working group. Its remit is to implement the FICT report's recommendations. I agree with the parties that are calling for that to happen, but the reality is that there is a party in the Executive that is blocking it, and it is not Sinn Féin. We want the working group to be established. We want it to take forward the recommendations laid out in the FICT report, and if there are concerns or contentious issues, we have to get around the table and discuss them. If we do not establish the working group, how are we ever going to move the issues forward? There was also the Tom Frawley report, which was commissioned by Belfast City Council in 2017. That was a comprehensive report. If you have not read it, I recommend that you do. Both those reports outline the legal and legislative frameworks that we are working under, and which pertain to bonfires and how they take place, set within a regulatory framework. We also need agencies to take more action in adherence to the laws that are already in place.

I have engaged with the PSNI on the issue of asbestos and toxic materials at the Donegall Road site — I know that the issue has gone to the AERA Minister. It is a disgrace — there is no point in saying anything different — that those materials have been allowed to stay there for over 10 years. It is a disgrace on the agencies and others who have allowed that to happen. I say, again, that we need to see those materials removed without further delay. It is not just about the bonfire. I am still concerned about the impact that those toxic materials — asbestos and others — have on the residents who live adjacent to the site and in the broader community. It is unacceptable. We have seen unacceptable racist and sectarian displays of hate. They also need to be challenged robustly. I want people to enjoy their cultural festivities, and to go out and have a good day. I heard what Phillip said. We do not follow each other on Facebook, but he appeared on my Facebook feed on 12 July. He was out having good fun. It looked like a good family fun day. It is like what we run in my community in August. However, I want to make sure that we do it in a safe way, and that we are not breaking laws that are already in place — be that by trespassing on property for which you do not have permission or by burning displays of hate.

Yes, of course.

Sorry, Diane.

With the establishment of the working group that was set out in the FICT report, we could start to bring forward those issues and see what a regulatory framework would look like. From a working-class point of view, that would help to give clarity, because it would clearly set out the ground rules for those who want to have the structures, and ensure that that is done safely. That would take the contention out of it. Tom Frawley said that. The FICT report said that, and Justice Horner said that in his summing up on the Adam Street bonfire.

We can find a unified voice on these issues and give clarity. I commend the motion.

1,468 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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