THE removal of an Easter Rising memorial stone from a coastal village in Co Antrim cost ratepayers £750.

It emerges as the council carries out an extensive consultation on whether the 3ft memorial stone in Carnlough should be reinstated.

The original stone was removed by Mid and East Antrim Borough Council after being erected on its land without permission.

Inscribed with the dates 1916 and 2016, it was erected to commemorate the centenary of the Dublin rebellion against British rule.

But the memorial was removed overnight in June amid criticism from unionists who branded it "provocative".

Responding to a Freedom of Information request from The Irish News, the council revealed that it cost £750 to remove the memorial stone.

It also disclosed details of an internal survey of memorials on council land.

The document lists more than a dozen monuments, including some erected without permission such as war memorials and one in Larne honouring a UVF man.

Earlier this month the council sent letters to all 563 households in Carnlough to seek views on a bid to reinstate the Easter Rising memorial stone.

A replica of the removed stone would again be placed at the same site in the village at Hurry Head.

Every business in Carnlough with more than three employees is also being contacted directly as part of the consultation process, which runs until January 6.

Sinn Féin councillor James McKeown said there is "still a lot of anger about how the council went about removing the stone".

"It was done in the middle of the night. The majority of people think that it's basically because it was a nationalist-republican memorial that it was done," he said.

"Certainly it's the case that the UVF and UDA and other loyalist organisations have memorials about the borough, and there has been no effort to have them removed."

In its FOI response, the council said it does not have a comprehensive list of memorials erected on its land.

But a spokesman said: "Mid and East Antrim Borough Council is committed to develop a register of all memorials on council land, both those with and without permission."

The old Larne Borough Council previously faced criticism after a large metal crown was installed without planning permission on a roundabout in honour of Queen Elizabeth's diamond jubilee in 2012.

The structure was erected using £13,000 of ratepayers' money on the Circular Road roundabout with the council later applying for retrospective planning permission.