Every imported question, contribution and motion, with its classification. Unflagged, uncertain and not-yet-analysed records are all included so the analysis can be checked independently.
Here we go again: another day, another lecture from Sinn Féin, aided and abetted by its little helpers in the Alliance Party in taking a swipe and looking down their noses at unionism and, in particular, loyalism. No one believes for one minute that Sinn Féin cares about dangerous bonfires in unionist areas. It is the…
FlaggedSectarianism, hate crime and community relationsCriteria met: Identity framing, Sectarian or communal antagonism, Cultural grievance politics, Dog-whistle messaging, Controversy escalation.
I thank the Member for giving way. Feel free, any day, to give that leadership. When people burn bonfires in my town, I am standing in the road, gathering tyres and asking the police and the council to come to collect them. That is showing leadership, and it prevents our young people from putting themselves and the…
I thank the Member for giving way. In Belfast, we have the bonfire management scheme, and council officials inspect the bonfires right up to the last day. A lot of the political posters and so on are put on in the couple of hours before the bonfires are to be lit. How would you deal with those instances?
I agree that the quality of the debate has mostly been substandard. First, I commend the Alliance Party for its strapline. It sums up the issues in one simple four-word phrase: "lawful, safe and respectful". I am delighted that Alliance has borrowed that phrase from me. I used it in an interview with its deputy leader…
FlaggedDecided on a second assessment.Parades, bonfires and commemorations
Well, I am not here to peddle division. What I was going to say to you and the Member who spoke before you is that, in my constituency, I have worked with bonfire builders in Clonduff, Orangefield and Cregagh, where we faced some of those issues and worked with the Legacy Network and the EastSide Partnership. Mr…
I am listening to the debate and trying to channel the average person watching it with their head in their hands, thinking, "Will we ever make progress in this society?" I say that because the quality of the debate and some of what has been said has been absolutely depressing, it has to be said. I will happily engage…
I welcome today's motion and thank the Members who tabled it for debate. I have been involved in politics since 2013 and elected in some capacity since 2017. A phrase that I first heard when I was Deputy Lord Mayor of Belfast was how we in Northern Ireland had "normalised the abnormal" across society here, and I fear…
Thank you for the intervention. I have no issue if a bonfire is too close to a building. I say that I have no issue: what I mean is that they should be in places where they are at a distance. I did my fire safety engineering exams, and I understand that they should be in places where they are not too close to…
I thank the Member for taking an intervention. Does the Member agree that it is all very well for all of us who do not have to live beside these bonfire sites to talk about them from an abstract point of view? I dealt with an elderly lady living on her own in Dungannon who, for a number of years, begged the people who…
I put on record the work that was done by Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council with the Fire and Rescue Service and the Housing Executive around site selection, safety and all the other things. I hope that the Member agrees with me on that. We do not need a motion in order to address that. We need members of the…
Like Mr Clarke, I had not intended to speak in the debate, although I am passionate about bonfires. I am possibly one of the most experienced people in the room to talk about them because, as a young person, I built bonfires. That is part of my backstory, my heritage and my culture, and it was something that I…
I thank the Member for giving way. I come back to the comments from Mr Beattie, who was on the commission, that the FICT report did not make recommendations only on bonfires and flags but covered memorials and murals. Does the Member agree that we need to look at all the recommendations of the FICT report so that we…
I did not intend to put my name down to speak in the debate until I listened to some of the rhetoric that came from across the Chamber. The motion is not a serious attempt — it is merely sabre-rattling. When I look at my constituency of South Antrim and, indeed, at Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council — you will be…
FlaggedSectarianism, hate crime and community relationsCriteria met: Identity framing, Cultural grievance politics, Dog-whistle messaging, Controversy escalation.
Does the Member recognise that the culture of traditional bonfires is not simply in the lighting of them but about children and young people who, in the weeks before the bonfire is lit, collect material around their communities, bring it to the site and take pride in looking at the event that they have put on for…