In the summer….Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Féin) succeeded fellow Republican Pat Convery (SDLP) as Mayor of Belfast and as he is only 25 years old was hailed as the new face of Sinn Féin. Niall has had a run of good publicity, the MTV nonsense was a big success.

But his luck has run out. On Monday night he was awarding “Duke” of Edinburgh certificates to Belfast teenagers but seemingly got an attack of the vapours when he noticed  a 14 year old girl, wearing the uniform of the British Cadet force. He handed over the ceremony to another person.

Bad decision by the Mayor. But I see it in the context of diversity rather than being specifically anti-royal or anti-British. In multi cultural Belfast its quite possible that a young Polish guy might become a cadet in Polish Army. And obviously a young British person might be a cadet in British Army. And a young Irish person might be an Irish Army cadet. Now I dont suppose all of them would want a  “Duke of Edinburgh” award. But no politician of any hue should have an issue with presenting an award to anyone wearing the military uniform of Poland, Britain, Ireland etc

But as an Irish nationalist and vehement anti-Royal (before and after 1688) I cant imagine why the Mayor was presenting these awards. I actually find the awards ceremony itself a bigger issue for a genuine republican. If the Mayor agreed to do that in the first place then he has to do it without fear or favour. It would have been a lot better if he had asked the ever willing deputy Cllr Robinson (DUP) to do this kinda thing. Nobody would have been offended. The Mayor could easily have fended off criticism that he didnt present them in the first place and he wouldnt have looked like a prat for falling between two positions.

Like I say, I would certainly have difficulty with presenting Duke of Edinburgh awards. But……..Im not Mayor of Belfast……yet. In the spirit of all that required “lets get alongerism” I could probably fix a smile to my face long enough to endure the nonsense. Or more likely ……telephone in sick.

Yet this is going to be a bad week for Sinn Féin. Their sure-footedness is letting them down a bit. And this is an example.