Belfast City Council declines to adopt Armed Forces Covenant

An acrimonious debate at Belfast City Council which has been running for several weeks finally climaxed on Monday night as the Council rejected adopting the Armed Forces Covenant.

The DUP brought a motion several weeks ago before the full council asking for the adoption of the Covenant. As the Belfast Telegraph report of the issue says…

“On a vote to support the Armed Forces Covenant, 27 voted in favour — from the DUP, Alliance, the UUP and the TUV — while 27 voted against the proposal, from Sinn Féin, the SDLP, and People Before Profit. Three Green councillors abstained.

As is the protocol in an evenly split chamber, the Lord Mayor gets the casting vote, in this case Alliance Councillor Micky Murray, who went with his party and supported the Armed Forces Covenant.

Sinn Féin however cried foul, stating one of their councillors, Councillor Áine McCabe, who they said was involved in the council meeting remotely, had not gotten the chance to vote due to technical difficulties. Her vote would have led to a refusal to sign up to the Armed Forces Covenant.

After legal advice from the City Solicitor Nora Largey, the vote was upheld, and Sinn Féin said they would be “calling in” the decision.”

The call in was successful and the motion was again submitted to the full Council last night where it was defeated by a single vote.

The Armed Forces Covenant is described as follows on the government website dedicated to it…

“The Armed Forces Covenant is a promise that together we acknowledge and understand that those who serve or have served in the Armed Forces, and their families, including the bereaved, should be treated with fairness and respect in the communities, economy, and society they serve with their lives.

Its two principles are that, recognising the unique obligations of, and sacrifices made by, the Armed Forces:

• Those who serve in the Armed Forces, whether Regular or Reserve, those who have served in the past, and their families, should face no disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public and commercial services.
• Special consideration is appropriate in some cases, especially for those who have given most such as the injured and the bereaved.”

In England, Wales and Scotland the covenant seems to be uncontroversial. Not so in Northern Ireland, where views of the Covenant are informed by Unionist and Nationalist politics.

Whereas Unionists wish to bring Northern Ireland fully in line with the other parts of the United Kingdom through adopting the Covenant, Nationalists are extremely hostile to the idea and cite the actions of the British Army during the Troubles as to why.

The debate in Council mirrored these stances, with Nationalists reminding Councillors of British Army violent actions against civilians during the Troubles being reminded in turn of paramilitary violence by Unionist councillors. Alliance councillor Michael Long, whose party backs the Covenant on equality grounds, was quoted deploring that the debate had “degenerated into a tit-for-tat thing”.

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