Committee seeks minutes of Minister’s meeting with Loyalist Communities Council

A DUP minister's Assembly scrutiny committee is to formally request the minutes of his meeting with a group that includes representatives of loyalist paramilitary gangs.

Communities Minister Gordon Lyons met the Loyalist Communities Council (LCC) on Wednesday.

He became the second DUP minister to have discussions with the council in recent weeks after Education minister Paul Givan met the umbrella group in September.

The LCC includes representatives of the Ulster Volunteer Force, Ulster Defence Association and Red Hand Commando.

The issue was raised during Thursday morning's meeting of the Committee for Communities, which scrutinises the work of the minister and his department.

Members agreed to seek the minutes of the meeting and also information on what community groups have had meetings with the minister and which ones have had their requests for meetings declined.

The committee is to also ask the minister to bring forward a scheduled appearance before the committee from the current date of November 7 so he can face questions on the matter.

Committee chairman Colm Gildernew expressed concerns about the meeting.

He said: "We're dealing with poverty and we're seeing a situation where it is being reported that there is coercive control going on within areas, that there is people being put out of housing, and I would be keen to know what was discussed at that meeting, was it policy or was it in relation to transition and engaging with people on that aspect of it.

"I think we should seek the minutes of that meeting to see what was discussed, I also think we should ask the minister for details of all the groups that he has met with because it's very clear that groups such as Cliff Edge Coalition and others have been declined.

"It's not that the minister hasn't met with them, they've been declined meetings, so I would like a full breakdown from the minister as to what groups or bodies he has engaged with on the issues of housing, on the issues of the anti-poverty strategy and on mitigations for welfare benefits."

Alliance MLA Sian Mulholland said no one denied the need to reach out to communities who feel disenfranchised and do not feel part of the political system, but she raised concerns over engaging with a group that represents loyalist paramilitaries.

"There is a very fine line," she added.

She highlighted that the minister had a key role in delivering the Executive's plan to end paramilitarism and organised crime.

"I don't think it's acceptable, I really don't," she said.

"I have a really difficult time with this. I have been contacted by organisations who have told me they haven't been able to get meetings with the minister."

Ms Mulholland said those groups included the Equality Coalition, Women's Policy Group and Gender Strategy Co-design group.

"And yet a meeting was prioritised with a group who do represent the voices of organisations that are involved in coercion, in grooming our children and in exploitation. I struggle with that," she added.

The committee agreed to request the minutes of the meeting, who was at the meeting, which groups the minister has declined to meet and to ask Mr Lyons to appear before them sooner than his scheduled November 7 appearance.

The LCC issued a statement following the meeting on Wednesday.

"The delegation asked the minister to consider conducting a fresh needs analysis on loyalist and unionist communities that continue to suffer economic deprivation, educational disadvantage, and infrastructure neglect," it said.

"This analysis should inform the minister on where scarce resources should be targeted to best address these problems, and should ideally have the input of the Departments of Education and the Economy as well as his own department.

"The delegation also asked the minister to urgently look at how best new social housing can be provided in areas (in Belfast) like the Shankill, Sandy Row, and Suffolk where large sites have been available for years but remain unbuilt."

In a statement, the Department for Communities said: "Minister Lyons met with the Loyalist Communities Council to discuss economic and social deprivation in unionist communities. The minister highlighted the work he is progressing in relation to an anti-poverty strategy, his commitment to ensuring an adequate supply of good quality housing and the importance of education and the development of skills in areas of deprivation.

"The meeting was arranged at the request of the LCC. Minister Lyons emphasised at the meeting that politics and democratic processes are the only way that we will succeed in shaping Northern Ireland and dealing with the challenges we face."

In September, Mr Givan faced criticism for meeting with the LCC.

In a statement after that meeting, the LCC said that it advised the Education Minister that a proposal to build an Irish language school in east Belfast should be stopped.

Last week, Mr Givan defended holding the meeting but he made clear no one would dictate to him what decisions he should make.

He insisted that "99%" of their discussion was about educational underachievement in working-class communities.

"Some of the people criticising me for meeting with the LCC are the same political parties who campaigned to release terrorist prisoners into our communities (as part of the Good Friday Agreement)," Mr Givan told the BBC.

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