A NEWTOWNARDS councillor who has been suspended by a standards watchdog has said he will not be ‘bowed, bullied or bribed into compromising my beliefs’.
DUP councillor Colin Kennedy said he has been overwhelmed with support from the public after he was suspended from Ards and North Down Council over comments linking the LGBTQIA+ community with support for Hamas.
The local politician has also launched a stinging attack on the Commissioner’s office, accusing it of trying to ‘frame me with some sort of thought crime’, and claimed the watchdog ‘has effectively taken on the role of policing councillors’ emotions’.
In a ruling issued on Friday the Northern Ireland local government standards commissioner found Mr Kennedy’s comments ‘overstepped what may be regarded as acceptable political speech’. Margaret Kelly found it ‘went beyond the protections afforded as a political representative under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Kennedy was speaking in October 2023 as councillors debated a DUP motion condemning attacks by Hamas on Israel and expressing hope for ‘an end to the bloodshed in Israel and Gaza’.
During the debate he said: “Do not be surprised when those who enthusiastically endorse the LGBTQIA alphabet soup agenda in the West are the very same people who are now seeking to defend Hamas.”
Former Alliance Party councillor Hannah Irwin, who was the council’s deputy Mayor at the
time, had urged Mr Kennedy to retract his comments.
“As a member of the LGBTQ community I feel pretty personally offended by it,” she added. Kennedy said he would not withdraw his remarks, but added he was happy to speak to Irwin afterwards to ‘assuage any concerns she might have’.
Independent councillor Ray McKimm, who is gay, left the chamber in response to the exchange and others criticised Kennedy’s remarks.
A police investigation into the comments found they did not amount to hate speech, the office of the Local Government Commissioner for Standards said.
Complaints were separately made to the standards watchdog and an adjudication hearing was held on Friday.
The commissioner found Kennedy’s remarks breached the councillors’ code of conduct.
The standards body said the finding against the councillor was ‘not a criticism of his right to express his political views’.
“Rather some of what he said went beyond the acceptable bounds of proper political speech, affected individuals who had protected characteristics in Northern Ireland law, and was personally hurtful to a number of individuals,” it added.
The commissioner found Kennedy had brought his position as a councillor into disrepute.
She imposed a three-month suspension after considering other factors, including a previous breach of the code of conduct.
The DUP said it would now take time to consider the full detail of the judgement ‘and its wider implications for free speech and democratic representation’.
