Councillors to discuss allowing staff to wear Easter Lilies

DERRY City and Strabane District Councillors will form a working group to discuss an eight year old motion on allowing Council staff to wear Easter Lilies.

The motion, proposed by Independent Councillor Paul Gallagher in 2016, would “grant permission to any [Council] staff member who may wish to wear an Easter Lily in the workplace over the Easter period”.

The motion was originally proposed to mark the 100-year anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising, and led to the formation of a Centenaries Working Group.

The group recommended that staff could wear the Easter Lily for one week leading up to Easter Sunday, and also wear a Poppy for one week “inclusive of Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day”.

At a Special Council meeting in January 2021, Councillors agreed for an Equality Impact assessment (EQIA) to be carried out by the Equality Commission prior to making a determination on any policy.

Following a draft EQIA in 2022, a clarification meeting was held that highlighted several challenges in taking the policy forward, as well as “potential legal and reputational issues”.

A further meeting with the Equality Commission, in January this year, highlighted several remaining issues, including the “treatment of other emblems in the workplace” and the potential impact of the policy on employees.

Tuesday’s report concluded that a new working group should be set up “as soon as practicable”, and that Equality Commission’s guidance was in place and “unlikely to change in the short term”.

Sinn Féin Councillor Christopher Jackson said he was frustrated that the motion was taking so long, but supported the recommendation to form a working group and said it was “the best mechanism to go into the detail and thrash it out”.

He also suggested that the motion could be amended at the next Full Council Meeting, to protect workers wearing an Easter Lily from disciplinary action until the motion is passed.

Cllr Jackson said: “This has been going on for far too long, workers have been expressing their frustration to us around inequalities in the workplace and it needs to be addressed.”

“We can’t have a situation where there’s disciplinary action because Council can’t work through a notice of motion that was tabled eight years ago.”

The Council’s Chief Executive, John Kelpie, said the motion was “exceptionally challenging for Officers to implement” and they were endeavouring to “do our absolute to take forward the corporate decision of Council.”

He added: “There are a whole range of issues that we need to discuss in the working group, regarding the work done to date and the direction of travel.”

“We completely and utterly understand the frustration but perhaps, in the working group, we can share Officers’ frustration and try to strike a path to progress this.”