DUP defends building of Omagh’s only loyalist pyre on public property
A DUP councillor has expressed his support for what he said was the last bonfire left in the Co Tyrone town of Omagh.
Material is currently being gathered for the planned pyre on a council-owned site just off Hospital Road.
However, Sinn Fein has called for the council to act to have the material removed from the site.
The Ulster Herald has reported that the bonfire has been advertised as taking place at the site, which lies behind houses at Riverview Park/Edinburgh Park, tomorrow.
Last year there was a confrontation at the same site when council workers attempted to remove material.
However, the bonfire was lit as planned on July 11. This year Sinn Fein councillor Martin McColgan said he expected the council to enforce its policy of bonfires not being allowed on its land and to remove materials from the land.
DUP councillor Errol Thompson said he backed the bonfire, adding that it was the last one left in Omagh.
“Bonfires in Omagh have been running for years, there used to be six held on the Eleventh Night up to the 1990s, now there is only one in the whole of the district,” he told the Belfast Telegraph.
“It is a family-orientated celebration and there is very little anti-social behaviour at it.”