Stormont’s Infrastructure Minister has come under more pressure to remove an billboard erected in her own constituency at the Egyptian Arch on the Camlough Road outside Newry.
The motion, tabled by DUP MLA Gareth Wilson, accused Sinn Féin of erecting an illegal advertising hoarding on public land and criticised the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) for failing to take enforcement action that would ordinarily be applied to businesses or private individuals.
The billboard, which in the past carried Sinn Féin branding and political slogans and currently displays a message in support of Palestinian children, has become a flashpoint in a heated debate about planning law, enforcement and ministerial accountability.
Opening the debate in the chamber on Tuesday, Mr Wilson said the motion was about “accountability and respect for the rule of law”, arguing that advertising hoardings are routinely subject to strict planning scrutiny.
Drawing on his decade-long experience on Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council’s planning committee, including two terms as chair, the DUP MLA said unauthorised signage is regularly refused permission or enforced against.
He stressed that the location of the billboard was particularly concerning, given its proximity to the Egyptian Arch, a B+ listed structure.
“If due process had been followed, the Minister’s Department would undoubtedly have issued a negative consultation response,” Mr Wilson said, adding that developments near listed structures are often refused on heritage grounds.
He accused the Minister of “blatant disregard for policy” and claimed her response reduced planning considerations to little more than a road safety issue.
“By your lack of action, you are saying that it is one rule for Sinn Féin and another rule for Newry businesses,” he said.
Mr Wilson also contrasted the Department’s inaction on the billboard with its failure to address a fallen road sign directing motorists to Craigavon Area Hospital’s A&E, which he said had remained face down for weeks despite assurances it would be fixed.
“The Minister’s party political and illegal signage is clearly more important than her departmental responsibilities,” he claimed.
Responding, Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins rejected the premise of the motion outright.
“There is no Sinn Féin billboard at the Egyptian Arch — that is a fact,” she told MLAs, insisting that claims to the contrary were unfounded.
Ms Kimmins said Members were ignoring the operational realities facing her Department, including staffing pressures and limited resources.
“Are Members seriously asking me to redirect my limited staffing resources from filling potholes to looking at all the posters that are erected throughout the North?” she asked.
The Minister said parts of the structure were located on land not owned by DfI, meaning the Department had no statutory powers under the Roads Order to remove it.
She added that the billboard had been assessed as posing a low risk to road safety, citing its set-back position from the carriageway, lack of obstruction to sight lines and its location within a 30mph zone.
SDLP MLA for Newry and Armagh, Justin McNulty, delivered a scathing intervention, describing the situation as “unbelievable” and accusing Sinn Féin of acting with impunity.
While stressing that he did not disagree with some of the messages previously displayed on the billboard, Mr McNulty said the issue was about legality and public safety.
“By constructing and refusing to take down its illegal Egyptian Arch billboard, Sinn Féin demonstrates that it is willing to break the law and continue to break the law with impunity,” he said.
Mr McNulty questioned whether any permissions had been sought from Translink, given the billboard’s proximity to the main Belfast–Dublin rail line, and said the Infrastructure Committee had received evasive answers from the Minister.
He was particularly critical of the admission that no formal safety assessment had been carried out.
“We are supposed to trust in the alleged safety of an illegally constructed billboard… on the basis of no evidence,” he said.
Drawing comparisons with homeowners and small businesses facing strict planning enforcement, Mr McNulty said the situation undermined public confidence.
“It is an uneven playing field. That is not how things should be,” he added.
DUP MLA Jonathan Buckley said the controversy went to “the very heart of the rule of law”, accusing Sinn Féin of hypocrisy and evasion.
“The irony here is that we have a Sinn Féin-led Department, led by a Sinn Féin Newry and Armagh MLA, who fails to address an illegal billboard within her own constituency that has her party’s logo on it at times,” he said.
“That is beyond parody.”
Mr Buckley questioned who enforcement letters issued by the Department had been sent to, suggesting it was implausible that Sinn Féin did not know who erected the structure.
“If there were a DUP-erected billboard, I would know who erected it,” he said.
He urged the Minister to reveal who had received the Department’s correspondence and to instruct the immediate removal of the billboard.
Sinn Féin MLAs Cathal Boylan and Sinead Ennis dismissed the motion as petty and politically motivated.
Mr Boylan described the debate as “bizarre”, arguing that it distracted from more pressing issues and accused opponents of cherry-picking enforcement concerns while ignoring other illegal displays, including bonfires.
Ms Ennis labelled the debate “farcical”, saying it was electioneering rather than a genuine attempt to address planning enforcement.
“If you want to have a serious and honest debate about illegal displays, we are up for it,” she said. “But not cherry-picking one issue because it suits your political agenda.”
Despite the Minister’s insistence that there is “no Sinn Féin billboard”, opposition parties remain unconvinced and say the issue raises serious questions about transparency, enforcement and equality before the law.
At the conclusion of the debate, 56 MLAs agreed with the motion, and 25 in objection which left the Assembly in favour of the Minister instructing instruct her Department to provide the necessary resources and authority to remove the illegal displays without further delay.
