{"id":322730,"date":"2025-08-06T14:38:21","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T14:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/322730\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T14:38:21","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T14:38:21","slug":"sinn-fein-says-authorities-must-do-more-to-tackle-internment-bonfires-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/322730\/","title":{"rendered":"Sinn F\u00e9in says authorities must do more to tackle internment bonfires \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sinn F\u00e9in has said local authorities aren\u2019t doing enough to tackle August bonfires organised by dissident Republican groups.<\/p>\n

The comments come less than two weeks before the pyres are due to be set alight to mark the anniversary of the start of internment without trial.<\/p>\n

The annual bonfires are lit on August 15 each year and have drawn criticism from nationalist politicians who believe they are a relic of the past.<\/p>\n

Sinn Fein<\/a> Foyle MLA Padraig Delargy said that the towering infernos are endangering communities and called on the authorities to do more to clamp down on them.<\/p>\n

\"Matthew<\/a>\"‘A<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThere are serious health and safety risks surrounding these anti-community bonfires, which could threaten the surrounding area,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is time for statutory agencies to step up and either remove these bonfires or mitigate the health and safety risks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no place in 2025 Derry for illegal bonfires, as they are anti-community, anti-social and pose a threat to people\u2019s well-being, the environment and critical infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBonfires stands in stark contrast to the incredible work being carried out by community organisations throughout Derry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are hundreds of positive events set to take place across the city in the coming days and weeks, and those are the images we should be projecting: a proud, forward-looking community.\u201d<\/p>\n

One is currently being built in the Meenan Square area of Derry<\/a>\u2019s Bogside.<\/p>\n

It is being built on privately-owned land which has been earmarked for an \u00a311 million redevelopment project in conjunction with the Executive Office.<\/p>\n

Last year police said they were investigating flags and banners placed on the fire as hate crimes.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, last month it was reported that a man fell from the structure during its construction.<\/p>\n

DUP<\/a> MLA Gary Middleton criticised a lack of leadership over the bonfire and said that the redevelopment project had been stalled due to contractors not wanting to remove materials from the site over concerns for safety.<\/p>\n

However, the SDLP<\/a>\u2019s Mark H. Durkan later described the MLA\u2019s comments as \u201ca bit rich\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sinn F\u00e9in has said local authorities aren\u2019t doing enough to tackle August bonfires organised by dissident Republican groups.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":322731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[16767,6408,1144,925,11528,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-322730","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-derry","9":"tag-dup","10":"tag-northern-ireland","11":"tag-sdlp","12":"tag-sinn-fein","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114982335764743173","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/322731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}