ULSTER Unionist MLA Tom Elliott has claimed all 23 councillors at Fermanagh District Council could be facing fines for voting to place Irish graphics on Council-owned vehicles and letter-headed paper without carrying out an equality impact assessment first.

According to the former councillor, all of the councillors, including his own UUP colleagues and members of the Democratic Unionist Party who voted against it, now face being fined by the Northern Ireland Audit Office for costs incurred by the Council as a result of the decision. Mr Elliott says the Equality Commission is currently investigating his complaint and he has also informed his solicitor, whom he says has told him that "I have a case." "He believes there is a case because Fermanagh District Council didn't go through the proper procedure when they made their decision," he said.

Under Local Government (Northern Ireland) Order 2005, the Local Government Auditor has 'specific powers' and can consider to apply to the court for a declaration that an item of account is contrary to law and consider whether there has been a loss or deficiency caused by a failure to account or wilful misconduct.

The Northern Ireland Audit Office has confirmed that it has the powers to implement a fine against a Council "if it is a matter identified by our audit or brought specifically to our attention." During the Policy and Resources Committee meeting in June, councillors settled on the bi-lingual rebranded design on its letter-headed paper and some of its vans. But when the amendment was brought forward by Sinn Fein's Tommy Maguire, the DUP's Alison Brimstone, a practising solicitor, warned that allowing the recommendation to carry without an equality impact assessment could leave the Council open to legal challenge. As Mr Elliott is keen to pursue the issue, a legal case and possible fines for each of the councillors could now be on the cards.

But this isn't the first time the Council has been challenged on a decision, and fined.

In 2010, it emerged Fermanagh District Council faced a legal bill of around a quarter of a million pounds. The High Court ruled that the Council had pay the costs of an investigation over the appointment of Rodney Connor as Chief Executive in 2000. Fermanagh District Council, and hence the ratepayers, were faced with a bill believed to be �248,000.