Wells in spat with Alliance councillor

Wells in spat with Alliance councillor

31 May 2017

FORMER DUP health minister Jim Wells has threatened to take legal action against Alliance councillor Patrick Brown following comments he made at last week’s hustings event in Downpatrick.

Councillor Brown asked DUP candidate Diane Forsythe if she distanced herself from the actions of Mr Wells whom he suggested closed the 24-hour A&E service at the Downe Hospital. 

Interjecting, Mr Wells declared: “That is a total lie. It was Michael McGimpsey,” prompting a member of the public to ask if the hustings event was an open forum for the public or for local councillors to quiz the respective candidates?

After councillor Brown declared he was a “voter,” Mr Wells said he sat on an election hustings panel in Downpatrick two years ago and as a result of what was said about him, there were four subsequent court cases, one of which concluded recently.

He continued: “I am going to give Mr Brown an opportunity before a fifth court case to withdraw what he just said. Michael McGimpsey, the then Minister for Health, withdrew that service, I was not appointed as minister until September 2014, the decision [on the Downe A&E] had been taken eight months earlier. Is he going to withdraw or does he want to see me in court?”

Challenging Mr Brown directly he added: “Are you going to withdraw that lie you have just told about me? Are you going to withdraw it? I did not make the decision and are you going to withdraw that lie?”

Following Thursday’s meeting, councillor Brown said he was pleased to hear Mrs Forsythe 

pledge support for the campaign to reopen 24-hour A&E services at the Downe, explaining he took the opportunity to clarify whether this meant she was distancing herself from the actions of her party colleagues, considering the hospital has been “continuously downgraded” under successive DUP Health Ministers.

The Alliance councillor said while Mr McGimpsey began the process of downgrading the Downe, which was subject to a legal challenge in 2011, “it is an absolutely pertinent point” that DUP ministers have succeeded in downgrading the hospital.

He added: “My question as to whether Mrs Forsythe was distancing herself from Mr. Wells’ actions or perhaps, inaction as health minister was perfectly valid. I was shocked my question was met with a threat from Mr. Wells that he would ‘see me in court.’ 

“Not only are his comments surreal on legal grounds as he was given the right of reply by the Chair so any accusations of defamation would not hold, I was expressing a political opinion which is fully within my rights at an election hustings. What does it say about our local democracy when one elected representative can be threatened with legal action simply for expressing a political view in public?”