Sinn Fein exclusion from community body to be reversed

Sinn Fein exclusion from community body to be reversed

7 September 2016

THE planned exclusion of Sinn Fein from a new community body in Saintfield has been overturned.

Newry, Mourne and Down Council has overturned a recommendation by one of its most influential committees that republicans be excluded from the new Saintfield Community Trust, which will manage the town’s new multi-million pound leisure centre.

The local authority’s Strategic Policy and Resources Committee decided last month that the council would be represented on the new Trust by the SDLP’s Terry Andrews and the DUP’s Harry Harvey.

Construction work on the new centre at the Belfast Road is expected to start next year, with the Community Trust taking over its management in partnership with a private operator.

At the recent committee meeting it was decided that the council be represented by Andrews and Harvey, two Rowallane councillors. Sinn Fein’s Michael Ruane argued Republicans should have a seat on the body, but the suggestion was rebuffed by a cross-community alliance of Rowallane’s DUP, UUP, SDLP and Alliance politicians.

Councillor Ruane challenged the decision at Monday night’s full meeting of the council when, after much debate, politicians subsequently agreed by 20 votes to 16 to increase the membership of the Community Trust to include all Rowallane politicians and a representative from 

Sinn Fein — a total of six councillors. The proposal was tabled by Alliance councillor Patrick Brown, seconded by Councillor Ruane.

Councillor Ruane said his party had been approached by people in Rowallane and those closely associated with the project to have Sinn Fein represented on the new trust. He argued that the make-up of the group should include more than two councillors, suggesting three or four, “to be reflective of the make-up of the council.”

“The full council agreed to a major spend in this area and I think that as representative of 14 councillors in this chamber we have every right to have someone on this board. Since we came into this council we have made it our business to ensure representation across the board, even where ourselves as the largest party have given up positions to allow the smaller parties and members of the Independent group to take places,” he continued.

Rowallane DUP councillor, Billy Walker, said he remained opposed to adding a Sinn Fein councillor to the Saintfield group given that the two members originally put forward were cross-community candidates.

He said issues in Rowallane should be left to elected representatives in that area to deal with, arguing strongly that if Sinn Fein wants to join the community trust “in an area where they have no political representation,” the five Rowallane councillors should also all be members. 

Councillor Walker added: “The initial suggestion from council officers was to appoint two members and we did this fairly on a cross-community basis at the committee meeting. I respect the hard work Sinn Fein has put into this project and ask that if one its members is appointed to this group, so are all five Rowallane councillors.”

Councillor Gareth Sharvin (SDLP) said his party “fully supported” the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee’s recommendation to appoint two elected representatives to the Saintfield trust, adding: “If we are going to start changing political parties across district electoral areas does it mean for example the DUP could join the Downpatrick district electoral area where it has no representation if a new development trust is set up? “

Councillor Brown thanked Sinn Fein for its support for the Saintfield project and said it was “fantastic” the party wanted to get involved. While he felt the initial recommendation to appoint two members was the correct one, he subsequently proposed after much debate that all five Rowallane councillors and a representative from Sinn Fein should be appointed.

Council official, Eddie Curtis, said if six politicians are elected to the Saintfield group, the number of community representatives would also have to be increased, making the community trust “unwieldy” as the number of members could be in the region of 20 people. He said people appointed to the body will be members for the duration of the project.