Fermanagh and Omagh District Council won’t be writing to Prime Minister Theresa May to support the building of a bridge from Northern Ireland to Scotland.
A motion, brought forward by the DUP, calling on the Council to acknowledge the benefits of such a bridge and write to the Prime Minister was defeated at a full Council meeting, held in the Grange Omagh, on Tuesday night. 
The DUP gained the tepid support of the UUP but both Sinn Fein and the SDLP voted against with the majority of speakers arguing that the money would be much better spent on local infrastructure in the district. 
The motion, proposed by Councillor David Mahon, stated that the building of the bridge could be a “game changer for this the most Western area of the UK and also the Republic of Ireland.”
Councillor Mahon argued that there was “growing support with some lavishing praise, calling a rail and road link between Scotland and Northern Ireland a ‘Bridge to a Celtic Powerhouse’”
He said that when it comes to this project that people should “dream big”.
“We were told that the DUP’s manifesto pledge was too expensive and engineeringly impossible. That’s precisely why we proposed a feasibility study,” Councillor Mahon said before adding:
“I’m no engineer but it seems clear to me that even with the challenges that building across the North Channel would present, it is, if other examples around the world are anything to go by, possible to build a permanent link between Ireland and Great Britain.” 
Councillor Mahon concluded by saying it was “time to be progressive and forward thinking. Created, it would be a catalyst for further economic growth here, both in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.”
In response to the motion Councillor Marty McColgon of Sinn Fein said that it “would cost billions of pounds” and that “the money would be better spent here, on the A4 and A5. It is good to see that the DUP want to build bridges but the money should be spent here”.
Councillor Sheamus Greene, Sinn Fein, also opposed the motion stating that “we are sitting in gridlock in Enniskillen every morning and still waiting for a bridge in Enniskillen.”
SDLP Councillor, Rosemaire Shields, said that she had considered asking for the motion to be withdrawn or amended.
“There have been three deaths in the last 24 hours on the A5. 
“Surely the A5 has to be a priority,” she said, adding: “This is all very ironic given that Britain are burning bridges with their Brexit policy.”
Councillor Alex Baird, UUP, also spoke on the motion and although he and his party colleagues voted in favour, it is fair to say that the support was lukewarm at best. 
“There is little in the motion that anyone could disagree with, given how it is worded, just like there is very little in it to spark any great level of debate or discussion as to its merits or not. 
“Before building bridges to Scotland or England, maybe Councillor Mahon would be better off first trying to build momentum for local, more realistic, more beneficial projects to the immediate rate payers across Fermanagh and Omagh,” he said before echoing earlier contributions about infrastructure needs in Fermanagh.
“The Enniskillen Southern Bypass could probably be built for less cost than it would take to buy the land needed for just one side of the bridge,” concluded Councillor Baird.