Statement by TUV North Belfast representative Ron McDowell:
“The statement issued by the West Belfast Festival after days of criticism merely confirms that the concerns raised about the events over the weekend were justified. Far from there being an apology for the gross offence caused by the pro-terrorist and racist chanting at the event, organisers have doubled down defending the Wolfe Tones because they are popular and making no comment on the fact that a group which headlined another concert at the festival unveiled a mural depicting an attack on a PSNI Land Rover.
“On Monday TUV wrote to the Arts Council, the Lottery and Belfast Council asking:
i) what funding Feile An Phobail revived;
ii) the conditions under which the funding was released;
iii) the purpose for which the funding was awarded;
iv) if there will be an attempt to recover any of the funding;
v) what assurances were sought and received that there would be no repeat of the celebration of terrorism which has marked this event in previous years prior to funding being released and
vi) what has been the total amount of funding awarded to Feile An Phobail in each of the past five years.
“We also wrote to the Charity Commission yesterday pointing out that trustees of the Festival are required to “take immediate steps to dissociate the charity from any activity that may give, or appear to give, support to terrorism or terrorist activity”. Today’s statement clearly fails to do that. The status of Feile An Phobail as a charity must, therefore, now be in question.
“Nothing that happened should have come as a surprise given behaviour over a number of years. Funders, both private and public, need to withdraw from this event as do political and media figures who give the festival a veneer of respectability”.