Fermanagh and Omagh District Council (FODC) is to write to the Heads of Government in each of the 27 European Union member states on behalf of the people of “this Border area” asking for designated special status for Northern Ireland.

A Sinn Féin motion which was passed at Tuesday night’s Council meeting called on the EU 27 “to ensure that the British Government proposals on Brexit leads to no hardening of Britain’s Border in Ireland, that the Good Friday Agreement is protected in all of its parts and that there is no regression on the rights of the people of this Council region.”

Sinn Féin Councillor John Feely tabled the motion, stating: “In Fermanagh South Tyrone 59 per cent of 28,200 citizens voted to remain. We ask the EU 27 to not allow the negotiations to move to the next stage until the British Government agree to no hardening of their border in Ireland.”

UUP Councillor Howard Thornton said many local farmers and business people would agree with a Scottish Government paper which said: “We believe that the EU Commission rely on a fear culture to achieve compliance with a complex set of regulations.”

He then called for an amendment to the motion, to state that the best way to achieve no hard Border would be “through Designated Special Status for the Republic of Ireland.”

Council Chairman, Sinn Féin Councillor Stephen McCann, responded: “That in my mind is an entirely new motion and I am not allowing it.”
The SDLP “was the first party to call for bespoke status for Northern Ireland in October 2016,” stated SDLP Councillor John Coyle, who added: “Fermanagh and Omagh know a thing or two about Borders and we know how damaging a hard Brexit could be on this area.”

DUP Councillor David Mahon said the DUP does not want a hard Border, “but neither do we want to see that Border shifted to the Irish Sea.”
He said the reality of special status for Northern Ireland would be trade barriers between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.
He added: “[On Monday] our party leader reiterated our point clearly. We will not accept any deal which will destroy our important economic ties and create barriers.

“To accept any form of regulatory divergence which separates Northern Ireland economically or politically would be catastrophic and we would feel the effects of that in Fermanagh and Omagh.”

Ironically, the motion agreeing to write 27 letters followed a consensus reached by Councillors to carry out a trawl of all letters sent and received in the past year in a bid to determine how effective the responses have been. The move was suggested by Sinn Féin Councillor Thomas O’Reilly, who hit out at “non-committal” responses to Council queries and voiced his fear that “local government is being side-lined.” He added: “If we don’t find some way to articulate our arguments, I fail to see what relevance we are having in changing and influencing decisions.”