Arlene Foster finds it difficult to see how funders can keep backing Feile festival if commitment to good relations is a condition of funding

Arts Council’s Roisin McDonough responded by telling the former DUP leader that her organisation has “expressly reminded” the Feile an Phobail director of the commitment to good relations that is a mandatory pre-requisite for all Arts Council funding.

The CEO said that a board meeting would be held at the earliest opportunity to address the fresh controversy.

Mrs Foster, whose father survived an IRA gun attack at their Co Fermanagh home in 1979, said: "I welcome the swift response from the Arts Council CEO and look forward to hearing the outcome of their next board meeting.

"I also await a response from the CEO of Tourism NI to my complaint, questions around the funding this year and the investigation which was to take place after last year's event.”

She added: “If funders are genuinely applying good relations as a condition of funding then it is difficult to see how such funding can continue to the West Belfast Festival given the outrageous glorifying of terrorism and criminality at the festival year on year."

In the letter received by Mrs Foster, the CEO of the Arts Council stated: “A commitment to good relations is a mandatory pre-requisite for all Arts Council funding and we expect all arts organisations which receive our funding to adhere to those obligations.

“The Arts Council’s funding support for Feile arose out of its role as one of Northern Ireland’s largest community festivals, offering almost 300 events, including concerts, exhibitions and theatre productions. The scenes recorded at the Sunday night concert are understandably offensive and distressing for many; they are an extremely poor representation of a festival which has had a predominantly transformative and positive impact since its inception in 1988 and in the years since.”

She added: “While I would highlight that ACNI has no veto or role in curating any of the programming by any organisations we fund, following the events at Feile 2022 we did seek to establish whether particular acts had been booked for the 2023 Feile prior to making our award decisions; no information was available.

"The Arts Council chair subsequently wrote to the Feile director on behalf of our board in early July, expressly reminding him of the organisation’s stated agreement to ACNI’s good relations commitment and the obligations therein.

“Following the events at Sunday’s concert, in light of the commitment to good relations that is mandated of all our funded clients, our board will be addressing this matter at its earliest opportunity.

"The Arts Council unequivocally condemns sectarian behaviour in any form. Sectarianism has no place in the promotion of culture and should have no place in any shared future in Northern Ireland.”

Tourism NI also promised that it will be reviewing the events that took place at the closing night’s concert and the “adherence to the funding offer terms and conditions”.

Belfast City Council said “officers will engage directly with all festival organisers after events” as is the case with all those who receive funding through its Cultural Multi-Annual Grants scheme.

Translink had previously provided funding to the festival but did not do so this year.

Asked if the funding had been withdrawn due to continued controversy over pro-IRA chanting, a spokesperson said: “Translink receives many sponsorship proposals from a wide range of organisations but due to spending restraints and corporate responsibility objective priorities we are unable to fulfil all requests for support.”

Feile an Phobail director Kevin Gamble said a record 120,000 people had attended events at this year’s festival.

He added: “This year, representatives from all communities were welcomed to Feile to have their voice heard, both as spectators and participants.

“All political persuasions attended and participated in various panel discussions, as did representatives from minority ethnic communities, and international visitors.

"Feile an Phobail includes all opinions and provides a platform for many different views."