Deputy first minister 'deeply saddened' after summer camp cancelled

The deputy first minister has said she is "deeply saddened that the organisers" of a cross-community summer camp "felt that they needed to cancel" the event over opposition to the involvement of children from a GAA club.

Emma Little-Pengelly said there was "legitimate discussion to be had" about the GAA's levels of inclusivity - but that this was not "the time or the place".

North Down Cricket Club said it had planned to host the event for young people from varied backgrounds, including some from East Belfast GAA.

But the club in Comber in County Down then cancelled the camp, saying "some public comment has been made on social media regarding a cross-community initiative".

It said the "spirit of the camp was at risk of being lost".

On the day the cancellation was made public, an Orange lodge in the town said there were concerns about the "perceived move of the GAA into the local community", which it said had come from some local residents.

Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster programme on Thursday, Little-Pengelly of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) said "cricket is a sport that brings people together" and summer camps like the one planned were for "children to get to know each other and work with each other".

She said she had spoken to the club.

North Down Cricket Club said it had hoped the event, which had been planned for Friday, would give young people from different backgrounds the chance to have fun by playing cricket.

It said 10 different local sports and community groups had been involved, including a "small group of children" from a GAA club.

On Tuesday evening, North Down Cricket Club said it was calling off the camp.

Its public statement came as Goldsprings of Comber Orange Lodge posted on its social media that "many local residents have raised reservations about the GAA's cultural and historical affiliations".

The lodge said residents had "made it clear that until the GAA takes meaningful steps to ensure it is fully inclusive and sensitive to the history and identity of the Protestant, Unionist and Loyalist (PUL) community, its presence in Comber would be viewed with regret and opposition by many in the Comber area".

The lodge also said there had been "unease regarding aspects of the organisation [GAA] that have, in the past, celebrated or commemorated individuals associated with paramilitary activity"

However on Wednesday, the Orange lodge said the cricket club had taken the decision to cancel the event before the lodge published its statement.

On Thursday, the cricket club confirmed that this was the case.

It said it had made the decision on Monday morning "following concerns raised privately — and later publicly on social media".

The club said it did so "before any comment or statement from Goldsprings Lodge, and was not influenced by them".

It added that it had long-standing ties with the lodge and other local lodges and that it respected the "contribution these organisations have made to the fabric of Comber — and to this club".

Cricket Ireland has said it hopes to move the event to Stormont in east Belfast in July.

Earlier, speaking to Good Morning Ulster First Minister Michelle O'Neill said the cancellation was disappointing.

"I am actually quite dismayed that anyone would think that young people coming together through the medium of sport, just because they come from a GAA background, that that is not appropriate," the Sinn Féin deputy leader said.

"I just think that is just totally unacceptable by anybody's standards."

She added "sport should be something that unifies people, no one should be excluded because they come from a Gaelic background".

Goldsprings of Comber has been accompanied by the Goldsprings True Defenders Flute Band in the recent Twelfth of July commemorations.

That band has taken part in the annual Trevor King Memorial Parade, which remembers a senior Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) man who was shot dead in Belfast in 1994.

It has also taken part in a memorial parade for Belfast man Brian Robinson, also a senior member of the UVF.

In a statement on Tuesday, East Belfast GAA said it was "disappointed" its youth academy members "won't be enjoying a planned community sports event".

"This was a great opportunity to engage with those who share our values of respect, togetherness, and inclusion," it said.

"The regrettable cancellation won't stop any of the organisations involved from continuing their great work in building bridges, promoting peace, and sharing spaces for sport."

The club said it looked forward to "future opportunities to collaborate with like-minded groups from Belfast and beyond".