There is to be no more “showboating” by MLAs and MPs at certain council receptions with the argument made by one UUP councillor that it is local councillors should have “pre-eminence” over MPs and MLAs.

The discussion arose at a meeting of the Fermanagh and Omagh District Council's Policy and Resources Committee Meeting where members were discussing a paper produced on Civic Hospitality.

A vote was taken and passed on the following proposal by UUP Councillor Alex Baird:

“The Council will not issue invitations to MPs and MLAs to attend receptions that have been requested by members and agreed by the Chairman.”

The vote passed but created some fiery exchanges in the chamber:

Councillor Sheamus Greene wondered if there was a political bias at the heart of the proposal

“I’m just wondering if the problem is that most MPs and MLAs are from Sinn Fein Party? If they were from Ulster Unionist or DUP would the vote have gone different? That seems to be the problem to me.”

Replying to Councillor Green, Councillor Robert Irvine, UUP, dismissed this accusation:

“From a personal perspective it has nothing to do with the number or shade of MLAs or MPs. What it has got to do with from my point of view is that level of political influence and showboating at this level of political graft,” he said before adding:

“So, I think if we are holding a reception we are the ones who are in control in our own council area and we are the ones who should have pre-eminence not MLAs or MPs. They have plenty of forums to showboat themselves and that is straight across the board.”

Councillor Marty McColgan, Sinn Fein, felt the spotlight was being put on the wrong people:

“There has been a good bit of discussion on this issue. I think that the misunderstanding is that the receptions that are being held are in honour of the people who we are inviting in. It is not about showboating for Councillors MLAs or MPs or anyone else. Rather it is about honouring the people we have brought in and their achievement and if they want to include MLAs and MPs then the more honour we can bestow on them the better.”