A portrait of President Michael D Higgins was removed from display in Belfast City Hall and placed in storage at the request of DUP Lord Mayor Tracy Kelly, Belfast City Council has said.
It emerged at a council meeting on Tuesday evening that the picture of the President, which used to hang alongside a similar portrait of King Charles in the Lord Mayor’s parlour, was no longer there.
In a statement, Belfast City Council said the “decoration of the parlour is a matter for each individual Lord Mayor throughout their term in office”.
“The photographic portrait of President Michael D Higgins has been safely stored at City Hall, at the request of the current Lord Mayor, while she considers options for this space during her mayoral term,” the council said.
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Ms Kelly has been a DUP councillor in the Botanic area of South Belfast since 2019 and was elected Lord Mayor of Belfast last month.
At the council meeting, Sinn Féin Cllr Ryan Murphy asked Ms Kelly, “where is that portrait, and what kind of message does it send out to the people in this city who hold the president of Ireland in high regard?”
“Thank you, that’s been noted,” Ms Kelly replied.
Cllr Murphy, who was lord mayor of Belfast from 2023-2024, said that when Sinn Féin representatives had been lord mayor of Belfast, “there were certain things that we never took off the walls, there were certain things that we felt were off-limits.
“And so when we were offered the royal portrait of the British King Charles, we accepted it and we put it up, and we put it up alongside the [portrait of] Uachtarán na hÉireann Michael D Higgins and we marked it with a small event in the Mayor’s office.
“I think for us, it’s concerning that we’ve seen in recent weeks that that portrait is no longer there.”
Asked why the portrait had been removed and if there were any plans to reinstate it, the DUP said in a statement that the “decoration of the Lord Mayor’s parlour is not yet complete. There will be further artefacts to be added in the next few weeks.”
