The Ulster Unionist Party has accused Sinn Féin of using the planning system to block the installation of a centenary stone on the Stormont estate marking Northern Ireland's 100th anniversary, saying the project has been delayed for five years despite passing equality screening.

The party argues the commemorative stone would join other historic symbols at Stormont and contrasts what it describes as unionist respect for nationalist identity with Sinn Féin's objections to the proposal.

Ulster Unionist Party Leader Jon Burrows MLA commented: "The centenary of Northern Ireland was a profound milestone, one that brought immense pride to unionists and many others across Northern Ireland. The centenary stone was conceived as a fitting tribute to that moment, joining the many symbols of historic significance that already exist across the Stormont estate. "For Sinn Féin to mount an orchestrated, copy and paste campaign to block it speaks volumes about the contempt they hold for unionist identity. When Unionists allowed an ash tree to be planted at Stormont to mark the 125th anniversary of the GAA, despite reservations about the organisation having stadiums and cups named after Provisional IRA members, there was no deliberate obstruction. That was respect. What Sinn Féin is doing now is the precise opposite.

"The hypocrisy is stark. This is the same party that defended the erection of a Bobby Sands statue without so much as a planning application, and that is just one example among many memorials to IRA terrorists that have appeared across Northern Ireland with little to no planning process whatsoever. Yet they are now weaponising that very same planning process to block a simple commemorative stone that has already been through proper equality screening and been found to have no adverse impact. Five years have passed. Further delay is not acceptable. This stone should be erected without further obstruction. Mutual respect requires actions not words."