SF mayor removes royal portraits

Published Friday, 10 June 2011

The Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Belfast has defended his decision to remove pictures of Prince Charles and the Queen Mother from his parlour at City Hall, and replace them with the Proclamation of Independence and a picture of the United Irishmen.

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Niall Ó Donnghaile said he made the changes to create a more "balanced" setting that is welcoming to all citizens and represents the entire city.

The mayor said the space previously only had items representing one of the city's traditions - unionism - on display.

"When I entered two weeks ago there were four portraits of various members of the British royal family up around nine spaces in the parlour," he told UTV.

"Obviously that was quite unrepresentative and unbalanced in regards to the makeup of the city so I have begun a process to make this place a bit more reflective of Belfast as a whole."

Mr Ó Donnghaile, who was appointed the city's youngest ever mayor last month, says he aims to create a civic space that all people can feel at ease in.

He has kept pictures of the Queen and Prince Philip on display, and added that there is also room for a piece that represents the city's new ethnic communities.

"From the beginning I've made it clear I wanted to be a mayor for all of the citizens," he says.

"That's why I recognise there are people with an affinity to the royal family, so I kept the Queen and her husband in the parlour."

The move has been criticised by DUP councillors, who have called on Mr Ó Donnghaile to return the pictures to their original positions.

Christopher Stalford, the party's deputy group leader on Belfast City Council, said removing the portraits will "cause hurt" in the community.

"Her Majesty, The Queen Mother was a much loved public figure on all sides of the community and the Prince of Wales has engaged in marvellous work helping young people through the Prince's Trust," Mr Stalford said.

"The exclusion of their portraits will cause hurt in the community and the Lord Mayor needs to reflect on that.

"I would urge the Lord Mayor to show positive leadership and reverse his decision. You cannot reach out across boundaries whilst practising acts of exclusion like this."

Comments

132 Comments

Kelly in usa wrote (345 days ago):

Belfast City Hall is in Belfast right which is in Northern Ireland right which is part of the UK. is it not. So why would a Tri color fly over a goverment building when the Union Jack is the flag of the Country. And the pictures are of the Royal Family who represent the United Kingdom. They are not just representing the Unionists but all who live with in the United Kingdom. So they should be kept up and If the new major wants the other pictures up he should kept them in his private office for his own viewing or friends if they would like to see them.

Frosty in Here wrote (346 days ago):

So far all I can see is people standing on a land mass arguing over whether they want to live under a system whereby they are overcharged for everything, or one where everything is overtaxed.

maggie in north of Ireland wrote (346 days ago):

Teresa Coyle..So how you would solve the "50 years of miss rule" is to make prodestands have to suffer same enequality as Catholics by taking all the Britishness they believe in and hold dear. Is this the right way to set up for the future remembering there is a large poportion of this country claiming to be British ? We should be going for a shared future with equality at the centre. You claim this inequality but you know, Protestant families were in many cases not any better off . They would not have been able to vote either not being owners of property. One thing you should be glad of was the free education provided for all.

steve in N.Ireland wrote (346 days ago):

wow look at all the bigotry comments of the people who CAN'T see the way forward, the mayor is trying to be equal, and to SOME protestants that is wrong unless it's all british & orange polish ist's not good enough, sad to see the bigotery of this country still thriving, btw I'm a protestant and it sickens me to see people who are afraid of change, especially when it's a change for the better, better for you, your way of life, better for your children, or do you expect your children to continue your ways of bringing them up with the bigotry you have inside you. neutrality, equality are the way forward for this country and there is a long way to go.

Teresa Coyle in Derry City wrote (347 days ago):

Prodestants should try and get it into their heads that there are another large community in the north called the Catholic community. We were tramped on for 50 years with one sided rule, just take a look were the ageing M1 & M2 motorways stopped, just before they came to the mainly nationalist area of west of the bann. Look at the Belfast shipyard in it's prime 99% prodestant. Their days of discrimination are over. I support the young mayor 100% he should have went further and removed the english union jack from an Irish City hall, or at least for the time being put up the Irish tricolour alongside it untill our land is united.

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