Controversial commemorative stone marking 100 years of Northern Ireland given go ahead

A controversial proposal to erect a stone at Stormont to mark 100 years of Northern Ireland has been given the go-ahead two years after the centenary.

The plan for a commemorative stone was put forward by unionist parties in 2021 and was supported by the SDLP and Alliance but vetoed by Sinn Féin.

At the time, the party said it had not been consulted and the project represented only one political perspective on the last 100 years.

The BBC reported on Wednesday that a fresh request for the centenary stone had been approved by Stormont’s Assembly Commission, which is responsible for the grounds adjacent to Parliament Buildings.

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It followed the submission of a renewed application by the DUP, UUP and Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) earlier this month.

Sinn Féin no longer has a representative on the Assembly Commission, as the previous post-holder, John O’Dowd MLA, became the interim Minister for Infrastructure following the May elections but could not be replaced on the Commission while the North’s political institutions are not operating.

The request was approved by the remaining members – the DUP, UUP, SDLP and Alliance.

A spokesperson for the Assembly Commission confirmed it considered a proposal “to site a centenary stone on the west side of Parliament Buildings” at a meeting on Monday.

“There was consensus amongst the four Assembly Commission Members who currently hold office to agree to the proposal.

“Therefore, officials will now be working through the process required to give effect to the decision,” the spokesperson said.

In a joint statement, the leaders of the DUP, UUP and TUV – Jeffrey Donaldson, Doug Beattie and Jim Allister – said they were “pleased that, though belatedly, the Northern Ireland centenary will be marked permanently in the curtilage of Parliament Buildings by a Centenary Stone.”

It will be “in the shape of a map of Northern Ireland, mounted on a Portland stone plinth ... sited on a raised area to the west of Parliament Buildings”.

The refusal of their previous request, they said, caused “great hurt to the unionist community” and they said the stone would be “paid for by unionist MLAs and therefore will not cost the public purse.

“Our only regret is that Sinn Féin blocked the proposal when first made, but this time they were unable to do so,” they said, adding that the details of the public unveiling of the stone would be given “in due course.”

At the time of the original proposal the Sinn Féin MLA, Pat Sheehan, said the stone had been “designed and commissioned by representatives of one tradition and reflects only one political perspective.”

He said it was “symbolic of the past failures of political unionism and of this state” which were “certainly not a template for the future and for this reason Sinn Féin does not agree to the proposed centenary stone.”

The original proposal was for a sculpture made of Portland stone with a granite base representing the six counties in Northern Ireland, with the inscription “Erected to mark the centenary of Northern Ireland 1921-2021.”