A DUP proposal to light up a prominent civic building in the borough to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence has been voted down, with some saying it would be insulting to charities who were denied similar recognition.
Communities Minister Gordon Lyons had recently written to ABC Council asking that it consider lighting up a building on July 4 in recognition of the anniversary.
The matter was discussed at length at ABC Council’s governance, resources and strategy committee, when Alliance Councillor Peter Lavery said the Minister needed to get his priorities right and describing it as an attempt to “fawn over an orange man in the White House”.
It was agreed then to defer and discuss among party leaders before coming back to council for final decision.
But despite a proposal by DUP Alderman Mark Baxter to proceed, no building will now be lit on Independence Day.
The council had previously agreed in February 2024 to cease lighting up buildings from the start of April that year, given the sheer number of such requests.
Alderman Baxter, in proposing a civic building is lit for this occasion, said he was “surprised” that the request had prompted so much debate.
And he also took umbrage with Councillor Lavery’s earlier comments surrounding an “orange man in the White House”, which he said had a “sectarian undertone”.
Said Alderman Baxter: “I think members maybe need reminded, particularly our colleagues over there in the Alliance benches, that in this borough alone – and this is a report from the council – there was £457 million of sales to the USA. They’re our biggest inward investor outside of the UK and Ireland.
“There are quite a few Americans living in the borough, so I think just to go against this for the very fact that you don’t like the politics of the current President, I think is an awful insult to the 360 million Americans in the USA, in such a fantastic country, and the links we have with America down the years should be celebrated.
“I think just to lump it all in, we’re not doing it because we don’t like Donald Trump, I think it’s churlish in the extreme. When we look at the economic links we have here, you just have to look at Game of Thrones, you have to look at life sciences and the money going back and forward to America, given we are the first port of call in Europe, from the States, I think it was very unfortunate, the comments, and I think any American listening to the meeting or reading that would be completely insulted by the comments that were made.”
Describing this proposal as a “one-off”, the DUP man remarked: “It’s 250 years, something that should be celebrated, absolutely. I have no issue in proposing that we go ahead with a recommendation from the Minister this evening.”
Party colleague Councillor Scott Armstrong seconded the proposal and said he too had been “disappointed” by previous comments and added: “I think we need to take a step back and realise this isn’t about one person in the White House and we need to understand this is more about the celebration of what Northern Ireland contributes to the US. It isn’t about what’s happening now with Donald Trump and how people feel about Donald Trump.”
After highlighting historic links between Northern Ireland and the United States, Councillor Armstrong said: “The number one foreign direct investment into Northern Ireland is coming from the United States. So instead of just thinking about how this plays out for the current President of the United States, why don’t we use this as a chance to celebrate our achievements in the world stage and what we’ve contributed to society? The people that came from this borough have contributed immensely within the United States.”
Sinn Fein Councillor Keith Haughian said his party would not be supporting the proposal.
“The point for us is that we turned down charities, we made a commitment that we would have a change in policy, and that policy applied to charities,” he said. “I think this is a bit of a backdoor move by the Minister, and the DUP are entitled to have their position on this, but I think it would be slightly rude to the charities to say we’re going to make an exception here but, by the way, we will continue to say no to you.”
Alliance Councillor Peter Lavery stood by his original position and criticised the Communities Minister, while again reiterating his opposition to the policy having been changed two years ago.
“We shouldn’t have made that decision in the first place, but it’s deeply unfair to treat charities differently to different requests just because they come in from Ministers,” he said. “Given the amount of poverty we have in the borough, the Communities Minister can’t even get the poverty strategy through and then he takes the time to prioritise this stuff.”
SDLP Councillor Thomas O’Hanlon also opposed the proposal.
He said: “Council made a decision back in 2024 and it has tied its hands somewhat. You’ll also see that there are other things that have gone on, for example, we brought through policies around bins, barriers, and toilets. We’ve brought through other different types of policies where we have left absolutely no wriggle room and no room for anything to be open for interpretation. To me, this policy is clear. It doesn’t allow for this and, for that reason, I’ll be voting against it.”
As it went to a vote – which was defeated on a 20 to 16 margin – Alderman Baxter had remarked: “Maybe if the American colours were a different colour we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
