Debate contribution: Sinn Féin Billboards: Illegal Erection

Debate contribution by Mr Peter Martin on 20 January 2026.

MLA

Mr Peter Martin

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

20 January 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Sinn Féin Billboards: Illegal Erection

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5348885

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I start by congratulating my colleague Gareth on his maiden speech. Gareth's office in Parliament Buildings is right beside mine, on the third floor. If he ever wants a cup of sugar, he knows that I am in the office beside his. Well done on your maiden speech, Gareth, and welcome to the Assembly. For clarity, I am speaking not as Chair of the Infrastructure Committee but as my party's spokesperson on infrastructure. Before winding on the motion, I will make a few comments to try to capture the flavour of the debate. I believe that there has been a clear attempt by Sinn Féin to distance itself from ownership of the billboard. I listened carefully to what the Minister said. She seemed to ignore two pertinent facts. One is that Sinn Féin's party logo was on the billboard. It may not be there now, but it certainly was. The second is that, on 8 October 2023, when no Ministers were in place, a DFI spokesperson said:

"The Department ... contacted Sinn Féin regarding the removal of the billboard on DfI property at ... Egyptian Arch."

A DFI spokesperson also said:

"Sinn Féin ... acknowledged the department's request to remove the billboard ... however, the billboard has not ... been removed."

A couple of weeks ago, the Committee wrote to the Minister to ask whether her Department had requested the removal of the billboard, and, if so, to whom exactly the Department had written. The response, which was mentioned during the debate, was:

"My Department has requested that the billboard be removed on two separate occasions; once on 18 August 2023 and again on 5 November 2025".

The Minister did not say to whom that correspondence had been addressed.

I thank my colleague for that intervention. I agree with him completely. I will come on to that shortly. Most recently, in response to a topical question from Mr Gaston in June 2025, the Minister replied:

"I do not believe that the current billboard is a Sinn Féin one." — [Official Report (Hansard), 23 June 2025, p44, col 2].

Last week at Committee, I asked, somewhat rhetorically, how one transfers ownership of an illegally erected billboard from a political party to someone else. That may sound comical, and, to the Members opposite, it may even sound facetious, but it is legitimately not intended to be. Some of the things that we are debating today lend themselves to a level of farce. It is fair enough for the Members opposite to say that this is a minor issue, a billboard issue or however they want to frame it. They are entitled to that opinion. However, we have to apply the law fairly and equitably, and that must be seen to be the case coming from the Assembly. That brings me on to two issues that I have with the Minister's handling of the situation. The first is the lack of information coming back to the Committee. It should not be the case that a Committee Chair has to make a FOI request to the Department that he has been put in place to scrutinise in order to find information that is in the public interest. I had to do that last week because the Minister refused to answer one of the questions that we asked. Therefore, I have FOI-ed the Minister's Department, and I will furnish the Committee with that response when I get it. Secondly, I find it difficult to comprehend that a Minister whose responsibilities include planning can effectively ignore a billboard in her constituency that was erected illegally — those are not my words; those are her Department's words — by her own party. Even someone who is neutral on the issue who hears that fact — those are all facts — would have to recognise that there is something wrong with that. Our motion refers to the ministerial code. All Ministers, just like everyone else sitting on these Benches, must adhere to the Nolan principles, one of which is:

"Holders of public office should act and take decisions in an open and transparent manner. Information should not be withheld from the public unless there are clear and lawful reasons for so doing."

I do not believe that we are getting enough transparency from the Minister on this issue, and we have heard the reasons for that during the debate. I have questions that have not yet been answered, and I do not believe that we are going to get to the bottom of it today. However, in reference to the Minister's comments today and in June last year, how does she know that the current billboard is not owned by Sinn Féin, and who does she believe owns it? Based on her answers in June 2025 and here today, the Minister has some knowledge about it. I am willing to give her the Floor if she has any knowledge of that. As a Newry and Armagh Sinn Féin MLA, does she know who erected the billboard? I think that the party opposite has accepted that it had a Sinn Féin logo on it, and the party might make the case that it is not its billboard now. However, everyone in the Chamber and those who are listening to the debate will accept that it certainly was at some point. Where did she get the information that ownership had been transferred — I am using those words; they are not her words — and who gave that information to her? It would be useful to find out who owns the billboard so that her Department can go about enforcement action against them. Does she agree that, in line with planning law, which her Department owns intra vires, the billboard is erected illegally and should be removed, and will she commit today to instructing officials to remove it? I do not think that we have the answers to those questions yet. I accept that today we are talking about a billboard, and I agree with the Minister that there are big infrastructure issues facing her Department and Northern Ireland that need to be resolved. Therefore, it frustrates me that we are here today talking about a billboard in Newry and Armagh that Sinn Féin owned at one point, probably put up itself, is illegal, does not have any planning permission attached to it and that nobody on the other side of the House knows who now owns or how to get it down. However, we are here because we do not have those answers, and it is my job as Committee Chair — I am not in that role today — to scrutinise the Minister and find those answers, because that is what the party opposite would do to us if it was our Minister down there.

I will.

I thank the Member for his question. I do not know the answer, but the Committee will take it on and write to the Minister. I have two minutes to summarise the debate, and I am going to try my best to do that. Apologies if I do not mention everything that has been said. Mr Boylan pointed out that the motion was not worthy of debate today and there were more pressing things to talk about. Mr McMurray said that the issue was both serious and trivial and pointed out that there are other illegal structures in Northern Ireland. Mr McNulty said that Sinn Féin was willing to break the law and asked who had received the enforcement notice. Mr Stewart stated clearly that the Minister should remove the illegal billboard as soon as possible. Mrs Ennis — I hope that you are Mrs. I should just use your first name, Sinéad. I am sorry. Sinéad said that there was an irony in our party bringing the motion, and there are more important things to talk about in the Assembly. My colleague Stephen said that the billboard is clearly illegal and also highlighted the hypocrisy and double standards of Sinn Féin on the issue. My colleague Jonathan Buckley asked where the enforcement letters went and pointed out that Sinn Féin's defence was to say nothing. Mr O'Toole — who is very often not there when I refer to him — said that there was hypocrisy on all sides, and he did not believe that we could build a united Ireland through erecting billboards. Timothy Gaston said that it was a Sinn Féin position:

"to spin, twist and deflect"

and asked the legitimate question of whether the billboard gets a pass because Sinn Féin holds the Ministry. In summary, the Minister said very clearly:

"there is no Sinn Féin billboard at the Egyptian Arch",

that resources in her Department are finite and that there is a low risk to road safety and public safety at the billboard. I ask Members to support our motion.

1,489 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 14:15 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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