Even the Christmas tree lights in Broughshane spark division: A call for unity - The Irish News view

It is a dispiriting truism that there is almost nothing that cannot be sectarianised in Northern Ireland. This axiom now extends to events as wholesome and positive as a community gathering for the switching on of Christmas tree lights.

The latest depressing example of this tendency has been afflicted upon the good people of Broughshane, Co Antrim, where the Orange Order issued a lengthy and rambling denunciation after a Sinn Féin councillor attended the festive ceremony.

Bréanainn Lyness, deputy mayor of Mid and East Antrim council, accepted the invitation from Broughshane and District Community Association to get involved in the Christmas event when the mayor, Beth Adger of the DUP, couldn’t go because she was attending Ballymena’s switch on.

This is such an entirely standard and unremarkable approach to the diary of civic duties fulfilled by mayors and their deputies that it is absurd that Mr Lyness’s mere presence in the village has sparked any sort of controversy.

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Nonetheless, Broughshane LOL 503 waffled on about how the presence of a Sinn Féin representative was “deeply divisive and inconsiderate to many in our community”, citing the party’s “historical associations and stance, namely their totally unrepentant position on the terrorism they waged in this country for 30 years”.

To his credit, 31-year-old Mr Lyness has done his best to brush it off. By all accounts he was well received by the people of Broughshane. He said he was honoured to attend the switch on and that as deputy mayor he wishes to represent “all citizens in the borough, regardless of creed”.

That the lighting of a Christmas tree in Broughshane should descend into acrimony as we look towards the season of peace and goodwill is self-evidently bizarre

The brothers of LOL 503 received fraternal support from the Apprentice Boys and the Broughshane Loyalist Bonfire group.

As well as being utterly pathetic, another danger of such irresponsible comments is that Neanderthal elements will feel emboldened to stoop even lower and take matters into their own hands. Sadly, if predictably, this happened early yesterday when windows were smashed at the offices of community and charity groups in the village and ‘No SF IRA’ graffiti sprayed on the building.

This sort of attack is as cowardly as it is lunk-headed. The offices are home to the community association which extended the invitation to Mr Lyness, as well as a charity which supports elderly people.

The sectarian vandalism disrupted community services - an outcome that any right-minded person would also surely regard as “deeply divisive and inconsiderate”.

That the lighting of a Christmas tree should descend into acrimony as we look towards the season of peace and goodwill is self-evidently bizarre. It is repugnant that it then leads to criminal damage and sectarian graffiti. As a society, we must do better.