Dromore Hunger Strike memorial -Council has acted properly says Sinn Fein Chair

Councillor Seán Begley, the Sinn Fein Chair of Omagh Council says that the local district authority has acted in a proper manner in relation to the complaint received about the republican memorial on council ground at the Old Church in Dromore.

He said,
“Bobby Sands was the MP for the area, when the Dromore area was part of the old Fermanagh/South Tyrone Constituency and to coincide with the 20th Anniversary of his death local people decided to erect a small memorial stone and plant ten trees at this site in memory of the Hunger Strikers and three local people who had been killed by Crown Forces.

“The erection of this memorial pre-dated the adoption by Omagh District Council of its Equality Policy. When Council received a complaint in relation to the memorial it got legal advice and did an investigation into who erected the memorial.

“The organisers of the memorial, the Dromore Commemoration Committee, subsequently made a request to buy the small plot of land on which the memorial is located as a way of amicably resolving the issue.
“At that time the council did not have a policy on disposing of land in graveyards for memorials and on foot of further legal advice agreed to an Equality Screening Exercise and an equality impact assessment. These steps were unanimously agreed to in Council. While the Screening Exercise was carried out the complaint was made to the Equality Commission in the interim and Omagh District Council has been since awaiting the Commission’s findings. The Commission, like Council has recommended the carrying out of a full Equality Impact Assessment and this will now proceed and Council will continue to act in an above board and proper manner.

“Speaking in my capacity as a Sinn Féin Councillor, I would like to point out that the community in Dromore is overwhelmingly republican and nationalist and a place where there is a deep affinity with the sacrifice of Bobby Sands and the other Hunger Strikers. Just as republicans acknowledge the importance and sanctity of war memorials and cenotaphs to so many with the unionist community, I would therefore call on unionist representatives, and particularly the DUP who are clearly behind this campaign, to begin to display the same sensitivity and respect for the memorials which so many people within our community hold dear and cherish.