Belfast City Council Irish language policy “piling illegality on illegality”, court told

Belfast City Council is “piling illegality on illegality” in its process for dealing with a proposed Irish language policy, the High Court heard today.

The local authority’s rules on reconsidering politically divisive decisions about both the planned strategy and flying of the Palestinian flag unlawfully thwarts safeguards aimed at protecting minority views, a judge was told.

Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) member Ann McClure is challenging the Council over the operation of a call-in scheme for voting on controversial issues with a potential adverse community impact.

Her barrister, John Larkin KC, argued a new filter has now wrongly been created, handing a veto to a simple majority of the elected representatives

“The standing orders haven’t been removed or suspended… it is piling illegality on illegality,” he submitted.

Proceedings were issued after councillors in Belfast approved a draft Irish language policy in October last year.

The blueprint aims to promote the use of Irish in public life, with bilingual signage and logos to appear on council facilities, signage and uniforms.

Amid unionist objections, a call-in mechanism was triggered to scrutinise the legitimacy of the decision.

Under the procedure a 15% minority of councillors can request a reconsideration which involves seeking legal opinion on any possible adverse community impact.

If those concerns are assessed as being valid, an 80% super majority may be required in a call-in for the original motion to be voted in again.

The draft Irish language policy for Belfast currently remains on hold pending the outcome of that process.

Ms McClure and her legal team claim the Council has wrongly interpreted relevant sections of the Local Government (Northern Ireland) Act 2014.

Her action widened out into a systemic challenge after the authority backed a Sinn Fein proposal to fly the Palestinian flag for one day at City Hall.

Unionists again objected and called in the original decision taken to mark Palestinian Solidarity Day.

Following a further vote the flag was eventually raised for a short period at the start of December.

Court papers described Ms McClure as a politically active member of the unionist community in Belfast who has actively campaigned against the adoption and implementation of an Irish language policy.

She was also said to regard the decision to fly the Palestinian flag as a further attack on unionist values and offensive to the city’s Jewish community.

At an earlier stage in the case the Council accepted that legal opinion on the merits of a call-in requisition should not be treated as determinative.

But Mr Larkin claimed newly “cobbled together” standing order arrangements have arguably made the situation worse.

A simple majority of councillors will now determine whether any decision called-in for reconsideration should be subjected to the qualified voting protections, the court heard.

The barrister contended: “(This) plainly and egregiously defies the statutory scheme and subjects the minority safeguard to a majority veto.”

Mr Justice McLaughlin was told that a council clerk must determine that a requisition is valid before a super-majority vote is required to pass potentially divisive motions.

“What is the value in obtaining (legal) opinion on matters of sociology and politics?” Mr Larkin asked.

He went on: “By the simple majority Belfast City Council is introducing a filter… depriving councillors and those people whose interests they represent, of the protections the regulations give to them.”

The case continues.