THE leader of the DUP group on Craigavon Borough Council has insisted that Sinn Fein have “only themselves to blame for missing out on the council’s top positions”.
Alderman Stephen Moutray MLA was reacting to a SF statement that they may take legal action after losing out again this week in their bid for the mayor’s post in a council where only two nationalists (both SDLP) have been appointed mayor since it was formed in 1973.
Records show that 31 have been UUP, eight DUP (five of the last six), one Independent and two SDLP – Dolores Kelly in 1999 and Ignatius Fox in 2003.
Carla Lockhart (DUP) made it on the second count, after SF’s Mairead O’Dowd led on the first tally – she gained 11, with Lockhart on 10 and the UUP’s Arnold Hatch trailing with three.
After a protracted row, during which the borough solicitor was called in, the council decided to follow “precedent” by eliminating Mr Hatch, after which SF refused to take part in the second vote, claiming it should have been first past the post. Ms Lockhart won on a 12-0 majority against O’Dowd.
Mr Moutray said that the SF members’ “aggressive anti-British attitude bars them from the top posts, although they have been given the chairs of various committees in line with the d’Hondt methods”.
He added that SF members had “actively opposed virtually everything British in Craigavon”.
He added: “They have objected to the council flying of the Olympic Flag because there is a small Union Flag in the corner of it, they have vociferously opposed Armed Forces Day, they objected to our proposal to the name of Lt Neal Turkington (the Portadown Gurkha killed in Afghanistan in July 2010) being added to the local war memorial.
“When I go down south, I respect the Republic’s flag, its national anthem and all its traditions, but SF members of Craigavon Borough Council seem to loathe all things British, even though they live on British soil. Frankly, they bar themselves from the mayoralty. The council followed precedent in the vote and I don’t think they have a legal leg to stand on.”
However, in the heat of Wednesday night’s debate – when the council narrowly rejected the d’Hondt methods of choosing the new mayor – SF said, as the second biggest party in the council (eight members against the DUP’s nine), they had every right to expect the mayoral chain.
Group leader Johnny McGibbon said that Ms O’Dowd – sister-in-law of Education Minister John O’Dowd – had served the council well for seven years, and that the action of the unionist members had again guaranteed that inequality reigned supreme in Craigavon.
After the decision to take a second vote, the party withdrew from the poll, which meant that Ms Lockhart won the day.
Council member Mark O’Dowd, brother of John O’Dowd, accused Mr Moutray of supporting d’Hondt at Stormont, “but returning to 1690 when he drove 30 miles up the road”.
But Mr Moutray described the two chambers as “totally different”, adding the remark was “facetious”.