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The SDLP tabled the motion at the recent meeting of the Council and it along with an amendment was adopted. In a statement, DUP Councillor Wesley Brown said: "For unionists in particular, President Higgins has not been the unifying figure portrayed here in this motion. “On a number of occasions, President Higgins has often strayed far beyond a neutral role, he has spoken in ways which have been deeply political and dismissive of the British identity and our unionist culture. “Far from being a neutral or a reconciliatory head of state, his interventions have often heightened and highlighted division rather than healing it. “This motion also exaggerates the significance of the 2014 state visit to the United Kingdom. Reconciliation has been driven, painstakingly, by people across our communities - not by one presidential trip or one symbolic gesture. “To credit President Higgins in such a manner is both misleading and insulting to those who have done the real, hard work of peacebuilding and therefore this motion is simply not accurate. “Moreover, this Council should remember that the President of the Republic of Ireland does not speak for the people of Northern Ireland or for unionists. “Our constitutional position within the United Kingdom is clear and it’s been settled. To lavish praise on a foreign head of state, as if he were universally accepted across Northern Ireland, ignores and disrespects the unionist community.” Referring to the Sinn Féin amendment inviting the new Irish President to visit the Mid Ulster, Cllr Brown added: “The amendment here before that mentions President’s Higgins exceptional leadership on the matter of the Genocide in Gaza, Palestine, is noted and appreciated. Where is the recognition then for President Trump, after all he is one of the one’s that praised with having a peace settlement at the moment. Yes it is fragile, but there is a peace settlement there, and we have a ceasefire.”
