Bobby Sands statue to stay in west Belfast

No further action is being taken over a statue of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands erected without planning permission, Belfast City Council has said.

The local authority launched an investigation last year after the monument to the former MP was unveiled on public land in west Belfast.

First Minister Michelle O'Neill and other Sinn Féin representatives were among those who attended on the day of the unveiling.

The council said it was "not considered expedient to take any further action in this instance" following a probe "in line with our planning enforcement strategy".

Sands died aged 27 during the 1981 hunger strike, in which 10 republican paramilitary prisoners starved themselves to death.

It was part of a protest in which they sought to be recognised as political prisoners during Northern Ireland's violent conflict known as the Troubles.

The statue of Sands was erected in the Twinbrook area beside an Irish republican memorial garden to mark 44 years since his death.

The Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) later said the monument had been erected on its land "without our permission or knowledge".

O'Neill last year described the statue as a "powerful tribute" and defended her decision to attend its unveiling after facing criticism from the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

The Sinn Féin vice president said it demonstrated her pledge to be a "first minister for all" because she attended a VE Day event afterwards.

DUP deputy leader Michelle McIlveen had said that Sands was "not a freedom fighter" but a "member of a brutal terrorist organisation".

"To honour his legacy is to reopen the wounds of the past," she told the Northern Ireland Assembly at the time.

In a statement, a Belfast City Council spokesperson said: "Our enforcement investigation on this statue has concluded and the case has been closed.

"The investigation was conducted in line with our planning enforcement strategy, and it was not considered expedient to take any further action in this instance."

According to the council's "planning enforcement strategy", the local authority will "exercise its discretion to take enforcement action if it is considered expedient to do so".

Sinn Féin was approached for further comment.

In a statement at the time, a party spokesman said: "This is a matter for the organising committee."

DUP councillor Sarah Bunting, the party's group leader at Belfast City Council, expressed concern over no further action being pursued.

She warned of a "perception" that "cases involving republicans… do not result in meaningful outcomes".

"Planning rules are there to be followed. When an unauthorised structure is put up and nothing happens, it sends a clear message that some people can ignore the law without consequence," she said.

The Bobby Sands Trust had said it "was not involved" in the statue plans but it would "doubt if anyone locally would object".

There are nearly 200 paramilitary murals and memorials on NIHE land and property, according to records from the public housing body.