Sinn Fein has made a request for Belfast City Hall to be lit for “Irish National Day” on July 11.
At a recent Belfast City Council committee meeting, council officers presented a review of its policy for lighting up City Hall, but were effectively asked to go back to the drawing board, after Sinn Féin and the SDLP showed scepticism about suggestions for a new policy.
During the debate at the main January meeting of the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee, Sinn Féin proposed lighting up City Hall annually on the “Irish National Day,” which commemorates the Irish War of Independence, and all Irish people who died in past wars or UN peace keeping missions.
It is officially called the National Day of Commemoration and is observed in the Republic on the Sunday closest to July 11, the date of the truce in 1921.
July 11 in Northern Ireland is known as the Eleventh Night, or “bonfire night” – the night before the Twelfth of July, a Protestant celebration that commemorates the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.
The Illuminate LED lighting system installed in 2013 on the north, east and west facades of the City Hall allows the council to mark significant dates, occasions or achievements using bespoke lighting scenes.
In recent years, there has been an increase in illuminate requests and councillors sought an updated report on illuminate governance arrangements and recommendations for their consideration.
A council committee formerly approved 14 dates for inclusion in the annual illumination calendar, but illuminated dates well exceed this by multiples every year. 50 additional illuminations were approved in 2024, 69 in 2023 and 56 in 2022.
Maintenance of the system is approximately £10,000 per year.
The council officer review report states: “There is an inexhaustible supply of deserving organizations and causes who seek to mark their own particular function, group or cause. The life expectancy of the luminaires system was 2023 so in due course the hardware will need to be replaced and upgraded if members seek to continue this service and feature of City Hall.”
