Statement by TUV North Belfast Assembly candidate Ron McDowell:
“Tonight, in a rare example of common sense, the City Council rightly rejected the pan-Nationalist assault on Loyalist cultural expression. That is welcome.
“The result of the vote tonight should not, however, obscure the reality of the Nationalist agenda.
“It is quite clear that while Nationalism likes to talk about shared space they would, given the opportunity, deny any space for visible Unionism and loyalism in our capital city.
“Unionists who have suffered at the hands of IRA terrorism will treat Sinn Fein’s professed concern for public safety with the contempt it deserves.
“The preposterous proposals which have been knocked back this evening threatened to create enormous tension across the city as I believe that any such diktat would have been ignored by people who have celebrated their culture peacefully for generations.
“Far from Nationalists seeking to build community relations and address genuine concerns about bonfires this foolish motion has only exacerbated tensions which were already high.
“I am far from alone in believing that tonight’s nonsense was nothing short of an attempt to goad the Loyalists of Belfast in order to provoke a reaction. It is to the credit of the community that these efforts have, to date, been unsuccessful.”