Irish language rap trio Kneecap has won its legal challenge over a decision by former UK business secretary Kemi Badenoch to refuse them £14,250 in arts funding after the UK government conceded at the High Court in Belfast that it was “unlawful”.
The group said it would now donate the grant to two youth organisations in Belfast.
In a statement, the UK’s department of business and trade said it would no longer be contesting the case and that it agreed that the original decision had been “unlawful and procedurally unfair”.
It added: “This government’s priority is to try and reduce costs and help protect the taxpayer from further expense, so we will not continue to contest Kneecap’s challenge as we do not believe it in the public interest”.
During a brief hearing at Belfast High Court on Friday, Mr Justice Scoffield said he was glad the two sides in the case had reached agreement.
Barrister for Kneecap Ronan Lavery KC read an agreed statement into the record confirming the agreement, adding he was sorry he could not read it in Irish. Mr Justice Scoffield replied: “Go raibh maith agat.”
Band member DJ Próvaí arrived at court in an old Land Rover, styled to look like a police vehicle, which was bearing the Irish tricolour and Palestinian flags.
Speaking afterwards, he said: “This was an attack on artistic culture, an attack on the Good Friday Agreement itself and an attack on Kneecap and our way of expressing ourselves.”
In a statement on behalf of the band, he continued: “For us this action was never about £14,250, it could have been 50 pence. The motivation was equality.”
The case was initiated when the UK government intervened to prevent Kneecap receiving a British Phonographic Industry funding award under the Music Export Growth Scheme (MEGS) to support bands in global markets, which was signed off on by the BPI’s independent selection board. At the time, a spokesperson for Ms Badenoch told The Irish Times: “We fully support freedom of speech, but it’s hardly surprising that we don’t want to hand out UK taxpayers’ money to people that oppose the United Kingdom itself.”
Kneecap, who live in Belfast, pay tax to the UK government. Badenoch is now the leader of the Conservative Party.
The funding, totalling €17,131 (£14,250) will be split evenly between Glór na Móna in Ballymurphy, and RCity Belfast on the Shankill Road.
In their statement, the band said the UK government “broke their own laws in trying to silence Kneecap,” adding: “They don’t like that we oppose British rule, that we don’t believe that England serves anyone in Ireland, and that the working classes on both sides of the community deserve better; deserve better funding, deserve appropriate mental health services, deserve to celebrate music and art, and deserve the freedom to express our culture.”
Sarah Jane Waite, the director of RCIty Belfast thanked Kneecap for their “generosity and support”, and said the money would go towards social action projects, including work aimed at “breaking down of stereotypical perceptions build from generations of conflict”.
The chairperson of Glór na Móna, Conchúr Ó Muradaigh, said the donation and support “will have a lasting impact on our work with young people and the Irish language revival here in West Belfast”.
Kneecap’s lawyer, Darragh Mackin of Phoenix Law, who represented the group alongside barristers Joe Brolly and Mr Lavery, said, “Today is not only a victory for Kneecap, but a victory for the arts, for culture, for freedom of expression.”
2024 has been a breakout year for Kneecap. The group – known as Móglaí Bap and Mo Chara from Belfast, and DJ Próvaí from Derry – emerged from a DIY scene of rave, traditional music, and Irish language youth culture West Belfast, and have gone on to become potential Oscar contenders, with their self-titled debut film – a semi-fictionalised biopic documenting their rise – submitted as Ireland’s entry for the Academy Awards’ International Feature Film category. – Additional reporting PA
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