A political dispute has erupted in Belfast after city councillors voted to revisit a decision concerning a statue of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands, which was erected without planning permission.
The Bobby Sands Trust has since accused unionists of "hypocrisy" following Thursday night’s vote.
The monument was unveiled last year at the Republican Memorial Garden in Twinbrook, west Belfast, marking the 44th anniversary of Sands’ death. It later emerged that the statue lacked official planning consent, though Belfast City Council had not previously taken enforcement action regarding its presence.
During the council meeting, a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) motion calling for the matter to be "reconsidered" was approved. However, a Sinn Fein amendment, which sought a broader review of the "current enforcement status of all such structures" across the council area, did not pass.
Sands died aged 27 during the 1981 hunger strike, less than a month after his election as MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone.
Danny Morrison, secretary of the Bobby Sands Trust and a former director of publicity for Sinn Fein, released a statement which criticised the SDLP for abstaining during the vote.
The statement said: “There is no cost to the ratepayers of Belfast for this statue, a statue supported by local people who came out in their thousands for its unveiling.
“We know the real reason for this debate has got nothing to do with a universal principle to be applied to everyone but everything to do with unionists resenting the fact they can no longer control the narrative about the history of Belfast and how there are no longer second-class citizens in this city.
“The hypocrisy is astonishing.
“Unionists had no problem with illegal monuments, plaques, murals and memorial gardens in largely working class loyalist areas.”
DUP councillor Dean McCullough said the motion introduced at council was concerned about “equality”.
He said: “The public want to know that the same rules apply to everyone.”
Sinn Fein Councillor Ciaran Beattie said the motion was an “attack on the rights of republicans to remember their dead”.
He said: “Memorials and sites of remembrance across Belfast hold deep emotional and historical significance.
“Approaches to enforcement must therefore be proportionate, sensitive, and rooted in respect.
“Priority should be given to engagement, dialogue, and community-led solutions, particularly where structures serve a commemorative purpose and pose no safety risk.”
Seven IRA prisoners and three from the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) died during the 1981 Maze Prison hunger strike.
First Minister Michelle O’Neill and former Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams were among those who attended the unveiling of the statue last year.
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