Council is not interested in this side of Mournes

SIR, — Once upon a time, and this is not a fairy story, we had a county town called Downpatrick and its citizens were proud of everything they had.

And it was a lot. There were three fine hospitals, several reasonably sized factories, an abattoir, a livestock sales yard, a cinema, several banks, shops and many other sales outlets.

That was a few years back.

Today we have a lot less; two hospital which thanks to mal-administration are little more than shadows of their former glory, a police station which is no longer central to the town and the eminent closure of one of the local banks.

Then we learn Newry, Mourne and Down Council has devised a devious plan to move most of its administrative functions away from the County town to Newry itself.

No, the council may not have openly stated this is its intention but why else would it embark on a £20m plan to build a large centre in Newry as its headquarters if it still wished to retain operations at the Downshire complex in Downpatrick.

Only for the intervention of independent councillor Cadogan Enright and the criticism he raised to all of this in the council chamber we would still be in the dark.

What I want to know is why were all the other councillors so reticent to intervene at an earlier stage when all of this was being discussed and planned?

Why do we bother voting councillors into power, with the hope that they will represent our best interests, when they do not?

It would seem once in office they are content to turn over power to those who are paid officials of the people but certainly not elected by the people, to run things according to their rite.

Recent news of the Council’s tourism strategy for the future also revealed a sinister plan to airbrush St. Patrick and all that he stands for out of that scene as well.

It would seem that we in East Down are living on the wrong side of the Mourne Mountains.

But I don’t blame those who make up and administer the unnecessary number of council departments for taking advantage of the naivety of our councillors.

However, the ratepayers of this district must make known to the council how strongly we detest what is being done, allegedly in our name.

And our councillors must again be reminded who put them where they are and what they were sent there to do. They must also be reminded of the consequences of failing their people.

Yours etc,

MICHAEL J DRAKE,

Downpatrick.