Question for the Mayor

HAVING just read Mayor William Leathem’s comments on the DUP’s decision to withdraw a motion granting the Freedom of Lisburn to the Orange Order could I ask that His Worship clarify a few points raised?

The Mayor tells us “At the meetings with the other political parties - UUP, SDLP, Alliance and Sinn Fein I discussed the option of awarding the Freedom of the City to the Orange Institution…..”

If that is the case then it should have been clear to His Worship from the outset that the SDLP, Alliance and unsurprisingly Sinn Fein were opposed, and if that was indeed the case then why was the matter proceeded with in the first place, it was bound to fail!

The headline said it all, Freedom Bid A ‘Political Football’, indeed it was, but it was the Mayor and his DUP colleagues who kicked the ball, it was they who once again dragged the Orange Order into controversy.

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