Second DUP minister meets with Loyalist Communities Council
Today at 14:42
An umbrella group representing loyalist paramilitaries has said it met with Communities Minister Gordon Lyons.
A delegation from the Loyalist Communities Council (LCC), which represents the UDA, UVF and Red Hand Commando, met with Mr Lyons to discuss “economic deprivation, educational disadvantage and infrastructure neglect” in loyalist and unionist communities, the group said on Wednesday.
It comes after the LCC met with Education Minister Paul Givan last month, news of which sparked criticism.
LCC chair David Campbell said: “The delegation asked the minister to consider conducting a fresh ‘needs analysis’ on loyalist and unionist communities that continue to suffer economic deprivation, educational disadvantage, and infrastructure neglect.
“This analysis should inform the minister on where scarce resources should be targeted to best address these problems, and should ideally have the input of the departments of education and the economy as well as his own department.
“The delegation also asked the minister to urgently look at how best new social housing can be provided in areas like the Shankill, Sandy Row and Suffolk where large sites have been available for years but remain unbuilt.”
The Department for Communities has been contacted for comment.
Alliance Party MLA Sian Mulholland said no minister should ever have a reason to meet with representatives of active paramilitary groups, “especially regarding issues of educational disadvantage and economic deprivation".
"The LCC serves as an umbrella organisation for active paramilitary groups,” she said.
“Loyalist paramilitaries are one of the main causes of educational disadvantage and economic deprivation.
"I have received correspondence from many community and voluntary organisations who have tried to meet with the minister, including women's groups and anti-poverty groups, yet are still waiting.
"Serious questions must be asked about Minister Lyons' judgment. Instead of legitimising their influence, his focus should be on eradicating paramilitary control from our community, not providing it with a platform.”
The Department of Education said last month's meeting between the LCC and Mr Givan was to discuss “a range of issues relating to education underachievement in loyalist areas and share information on the Department’s RAISE programme and other relevant initiatives”.
However, the LCC said it also used the meeting to raise concerns about plans for an Irish language school in east Belfast and urged Mr Givan to stop its proposed development.
Mr Givan later defended holding a meeting with the LCC and said nobody other than him will dictate which schools should open or close.
Following the LCC’s meeting with Mr Givan, Mr Campbell said the criticism was an example of “best practice in political hypocrisy” and those critical of the meeting are the same people who also spoke of the need for loyalism to move away from protest to politics.
“The extremely constructive meeting with Paul Givan dealt primarily with the subject of educational underachievement and inequality in loyalist areas, particularly in relation to loyalist teenage boys,” Mr Campbell said.
Gordon Lyons previously said Stormont ministers receive invitations to meet with people from across Northern Ireland and “that doesn’t mean people are telling us what to do” – it “means we are listening to different perspectives”.
by Typical-Analysis8108
9 comments
Wonder will sinn Fein start calling them DUP/UDA like they had to endure for so long being called SINN FEIN IRA?
This is an absolute disgrace that these thugs are given legitimacy
Lyons simply couldn’t be arsed meeting with the housing executive yesterday to discuss anti-homelessness strategies, regional strategies, etc. Says it all really. A pro-terror party
” . . .to discuss “economic deprivation, educational disadvantage and infrastructure neglect” in loyalist and unionist communities.
” treatin us lik wur catliks , snot on “
Imagine if Michelle O’Neill was meeting up with Saoradh to discuss blocking a protestant associated school or on funnelling money exclusively into Republican areas.
They’ve always met with the LCC.
Only now they’re being overt about it.
Fair play to Gordon for “listening to different perspectives” from the same folk who recently brought Belfast its very own race riots.
Very brave indeed. That’d be political suicide in most places.
Have loyalists finally woken up to the fact the DUP have played them like a fiddle?
They have done nothing for the loyalist people but sell them down the river for some peerages and lordships.
It’s really strange that in NI it’s ok to go ‘have to go meet the murdering drug dealers before I make a political commitment/statement’ cause they operate in social housing
Is this a surprise to people? I didn’t even realise this was something I was supposed to be *particularly* outraged about, over and above the background bullshit of living here. Not to downplay it or anything, but fucking duhhh. This is the faction that elects the DUP, and the same sector of the loyalist vote threatening them with “be more extreme or lose your seat”. This was always the DUPs constituency above and before any boundary on map.