Higgins portrait snatched away by DUP mayor

A portrait of Irish President Michael D. Higgins has been removed from a reception room at Belfast City Hall to an unknown location by hardline unionists.

Belfast City Council said it had been instructed to do so by the DUP mayor, Tracy Kelly.

Sinn Féin asked Kelly to explain where it has gone but has not received an answer.

Belfast City Council has said the portrait is being “safely stored” and that the decoration of the parlour is “a matter for each individual Lord Mayor throughout their term in office.”

Portraits of the Irish and British heads of state, President Higgins and King Charles, had previously been side by side on a wall in the Mayor’s Parlour.

At Tuesday’s council meeting, Mr. Murphy praised the DUP mayor for how she had carried out her public duties during her first month in office, then raised the portrait issue.

The Sinn Féin councillor said: “When our representatives have been in that position of being the Mayor, there were certain things that we never took off the walls. There were certain things we felt were off-limits.

“And so when we were offered the royal portrait of the British King Charles [in March 2024], we accepted it and we put it up.

“And we put it up alongside Uachtarán na hÉireann [President of Ireland] Michael D. Higgins, and we marked it with a small event in the Mayor’s office.

“It’s concerning that we have seen in recent weeks that that portrait is no longer there, and we would just ask: where is that portrait? And what kind of message does it send out to people in this city who hold the President of Ireland in high regard?”

The portrait’s removal comes as both Sinn Féin and Aontú advanced legislation in the Dublin parliament, supported by a vote in the Stormont Assembly, to allow for Irish citizens living in the North of Ireland to vote in the forthcoming Presidential election.

The parlour is a formal room on the first floor of City Hall, used for meetings, receptions, and special occasions. But it is not the first time there has been a dispute over portraits there.

In 2011, Sinn Féin’s Niall Ó Donnghaile upset unionists by removing pictures of the Queen Mother and Prince Charles.

The portraits of President Higgins and King Charles went up together last year when there was a Sinn Féin Mayor. They remained during the next term of office under the Alliance Party’s Micky Murray.

The DUP move is a retrograde step for community relations. And a DUP spokesperson suggested things would get worse, not better, saying: “Decoration of the Lord Mayor’s parlour is not yet complete. There will be further artefacts to be added in the next few weeks.”

Urgent Appeal