Bobby Storey funeral: Council officials 'warn they may resign'

Nigel Grimshaw and Suzanne Wylie have reportedly lodged a formal grievance

Two Belfast City Council officials are reported to have warned they may resign after criticism of how the council handled Bobby Storey's cremation.

On the day Mr Storey was cremated, eight other families were not allowed to hold services at Roselawn Cemetery.

The Belfast Telegraph is reporting the council's chief executive Suzanne Wylie and director Nigel Grimshaw have lodged a formal grievance with a solicitor.

They are said to have warned they may resign if "concerns are not resolved".

The funeral of the senior republican and former IRA prisoner on 30 June has caused a damaging row at the heart of Northern Ireland's power-sharing government.

Earlier this week, Belfast City Council apologised to the eight other families who were not allowed into Roselawn as their loved-ones were cremated.

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Thursday's Belfast Telegraph said it has seen correspondence which quotes Ms Wylie as saying: "It is with deep sadness and regret that I have to inform you that Nigel and I are lodging a formal grievance with the city solicitor which includes an indication that we may have no option but to resign if our concerns are not resolved.

"This decision is directly, but not solely, related to the issues which arose around the Bobby Storey cremation."

The council was criticised over its handling of the cremation of Bobby Storey on 30 June

Ms Wylie has been the chief executive of Belfast City Council since 2014.

Mr Grimshaw joined the council in 2016 when he was appointed its strategic director of city and neighbourhood services.

There has been no official confirmation of a grievance procedure from City Hall, but in a public statement issued by the two officials on Wednesday, they said they were "formally raising" issues with party leaders.

That statement was issued via a Belfast-based public relations company rather than the council press office.

This highly unusual move indicated that there were difficulties within Belfast City Hall.

On Friday, an emergency meeting of the 60-member council will take place to discuss the events at Roselawn Cemetery on June 30.

Bobby Storey's family was allowed to gather outside the crematorium during his cremation but eight other families were not given permission to do so.

Most of the parties at Belfast City Hall now want an independent investigation to be held rather than simply an internal review.

Analysis

By Mark Simpson, BBC News NI

There's no doubt that Suzanne Wylie and Nigel Grimshaw are very, very unhappy.

The first hint came on Wednesday in that statement they issued through a PR company.

I've been covering Belfast City Hall on and off for almost 30 years and I've never seen that before - two of the top team feeling the need to speak publicly, and for whatever reason, using a Belfast PR firm rather than the council press office.

At Friday's council meeting, a motion will be proposed calling for an independent investigation into what happened at Roselawn - rather than an internal council investigation whereby council officials and councillors effectively investigate themselves.

Politics being politics, there's a little bit of wrangling over the exact motion but I'd be surprised if the motion isn't passed to set up some sort of time-limited independent investigation to try to get some answers about exactly what happened at Roselawn by the autumn.

A Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) motion calling for the investigation will be debated at 15:00 BST on Friday.

It is being supported by the Alliance Party; the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP); the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and Progressive Unionist Party (PUP).

As for Sinn Féin, the party released a short statement, which said: "This meeting is an opportunity to discuss concerns over a range of issues which have arisen over recent days."

In spite of the problems behind the scenes, the council continues to function and a cross-party committee meeting will be held on Thursday afternoon to discuss how to handle Eleventh Night bonfires.