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Progress on tackling deprived loyalist areas lacking, LCC tells Lyons

BBC Gordon Lyons wearing white shirt and blue tieBBC
The Department for Communities has published a note of the meeting between the LCC and Lyons, which took place on 9 October

The Loyalist Communities Council (LCC) told the communities minister that progress in tackling deprivation in loyalist areas had been "lacking".

Members of the LCC met the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Minister for Communities Gordon Lyons in October.

The Department for Communities (DfC) has published a note of the meeting between the LCC and Lyons, which took place on 9 October, in response to a Freedom of Information request.

The meeting with Lyons came after fellow DUP minister Paul Givan faced criticism for a meeting with the group in which they objected to a plan for an Irish language school in east Belfast.

The LCC includes representatives from paramilitary groups the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and Ulster Defence Association (UDA).

The note of the meeting with Lyons, written by a DfC official, said the meeting with the LCC took place "to discuss economic and social deprivation".

It said the chair of the LCC, David Campbell, attended along with loyalists Jackie McDonald, Robert Williamson and Darren Richardson.

Mr Campbell "thanked the minister for agreeing to meet despite the controversy surrounding the recent meeting with the minister for education", according to the note.

He said that the purpose of the meeting was "to discuss community development and addressing deprivation in loyalist areas".

"Progress in this area has been lacking," Mr Campbell continued.

Other areas raised by the LCC were the lack of social housing, "the effect of communities feeling isolated" and educational underachievement - particularly among men and boys.

Getty Images David Campbell wearing beige jacket and grey shirtGetty Images
David Campbell, the chair of the LCC, was among those in attendance at the meeting in October, according to the DfC note

The LCC also raised "specific impediments to joining certain professions" if a family member had a criminal conviction.

Lyons responded that he would consider "if this could be raised politically with the UK government", according to the meeting note.

It also said that the minister "stated his commitment to working with people who are committed to transitioning to peaceful, political, and democratic processes".

Both Givan and Lyons had faced criticism for meeting the LCC while declining meetings with other organisations.