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Why bonfire issue needs to be tackled before it’s too late

Alban Maginness

Real leadership is needed after several concerning issues

Alight: there was controversy over some bonfires

Press Eye/Philip Magowan

Alight: there was controversy over some bonfires

July 14 2021 06:46 AM

The horrific burns to the face and body suffered by a 17-year-old boy at an Eleventh Night bonfire at Silverstream Crescent in the loyalist Ballysillan area of north Belfast is surely a siren call for the introduction of strict mandatory regulations surrounding the construction and firing of bonfires in public spaces.

While this young man battles for his life in hospital, it is surely incumbent on politicians to unite around an urgent review of how these dangerously unregulated fires can be controlled for public health and safety reasons.

Doug Beattie: Opinion Legal changes could deliver controlled, respectful, safe pyres

The new Ulster Unionist leader, Doug Beattie, acting as a leader should, has bravely accepted that the mandatory regulation of bonfires should be considered.

Dolores Kelly, the SDLP member of the Policing Board, has also publicly called for urgent action to bring about proper regulation.

Sadly, the new DUP leader, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, has refused to endorse a mandatory approach, but rather prefers a voluntary approach and some sort of engagement with local communities.

This laissez-faire approach is simply a recipe for doing nothing, when all the evidence surrounding this year’s Eleventh Night points to serious and pressing issues arising from bonfires.

Leaving aside the tragic incident in Ballysillan, last week a 16-year-old boy fell from a bonfire in Cookstown and had to be airlifted to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast for emergency treatment.

Also, in Edgarstown, Portadown, a monstrously high “super-bonfire” in full flame toppled over and narrowly missed landing on its many enthusiastic attendees. It is a miracle that nobody was hurt or killed.

The NI Fire and Rescue Service also reported “a significant increase in emergency calls and mobilisations to bonfire related incidents”.

How much more evidence is needed for politicians, especially unionist politicians, to act with speed and determination?

In their present, uncontrolled form, bonfires are a source of grave physical danger for their young builders and their audiences on the Eleventh Night.

There is a glaring disregard for the health and safety of homes and buildings surrounding these uncontrolled fires and there is also a complete disregard of the adverse impact they have on the environment itself.

In no other civilised society in Western Europe would these fires be tolerated and remain absolutely unregulated.

As the bonfires have become bigger and bolder in size and design, so have their political or “cultural” significance.

The now traditional burning of election posters of non-unionist politicians has inevitably caused offence to many in the wider community.

The burning of the Irish tricolour by the loyalist bonfire-makers is ingrained in their sectarian political psyche and is designed to taunt and insult their nationalist neighbours.

On this issue, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has boldly stated that this practice should end, recognising this offensive aspect of bonfire night, and has called for respect for the tricolour and other nationalist symbols.

This ugly sectarian aspect of loyalist bonfires has been highlighted by the deeply troubling dispute over the site of a large pyre in Adam Street just on the interface between Tigers Bay and the New Lodge Road areas of north Belfast.

As a means of cultural expression, the bonfire is a scary thing. It is a crude, almost primitive spectacle, that invites aggressive behaviour and is seen as a way of intimidating one’s neighbours and keeping them in their place.

It is a fiery expression of sectarian hostility and spite, not friendship nor constructive engagement. It thereby creates resentment and bitterness and kills progress towards building a society at peace with itself.

If loyalist culture is really dependent on bonfires for its expression, then there is something radically wrong with loyalist culture.

There should be no stalemate on these pressing issues.

All of these issues demand an urgent review and specific legislation by the Assembly to regulate and, in special cases, impose an outright ban on these noxious fires that serve to reinforce sectarian hate and division on an annual basis.

In this regard, unionist politicians have a very important role to play in displaying their concern about the threat to the environment and for the health and safety of the young men themselves who build and light these fires.

They must find the courage to stand up to those in loyalism, particularly the paramilitaries, who defend present practices.

Responsible unionist politicians should insist on the mandatory regulation of bonfires by the Assembly.

The Adam Street bonfire thankfully took place without incident, but its political tug-of-war has left a bitter aftertaste of the encouragement of contentious bonfires by political unionism, aided and abetted by the covert threat of armed UDA involvement.

The failure of the PSNI to deal with this bonfire is deeply disappointing and, like the Bobby Storey funeral debacle, is a grim reminder of how divided a society we really are.

Why bonfire issue needs to be tackled before it’s too late

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