Local Councillors deny that relationships between nationalists and unionists are deteriorating, with the DUP Chairman of the Council Bert Johnston stating: “At the end of the day, now, nobody is shooting each other.” Mr. Johnston denies referring to nationalist Councillors as “fenians” during a conversation with a DUP colleague on his way out of the Council Chamber on Monday night, saying: “I don’t use that word because they’re not fenians, the fenians was a movement. That wasn’t me saying that; I think you’ve misheard that. It wouldn’t be a word that I’d ever use. I want to refute that.” “Eighty per cent of the time, issues are non-contentious,” Sinn Féin Councillor Barry Doherty tells The Impartial Reporter, adding: “Often it is a case of: ‘They are for it, so I am against it.’” With six months to go until Fermanagh District Council ceases to exist, Councillors are “just treading water”, according to SDLP Councillor John O’Kane.

UUP Councillor Alex Baird does not detect “any open animosity” and says that “when different people have different views, those need to be expressed and that can sometimes manifest itself in a raising of tensions.” Tempers flared once again at Monday night’s meeting when Sinn Féin brought forward a motion opposing ‘Tory welfare cuts’. Mr. Baird challenged the relevancy of the motion, stating: “The use of the word ‘Tory’ in this context is pejorative … If we allow the use of pejorative language we are setting a precedent which could lead to terms such as ‘shinner’ for Provisional Sinn Féin and even ‘stoop’ for SDLP. This would be completely wrong.” SDLP Councillor John O’Kane responded: “If you want to persuade people to work with you, it’s not a good idea to call them names.” Mr. Baird, who has been on Fermanagh District Council for 10 years, states: “It was unfortunate that it was a unionist nationalist split, but that was a result of the conversation, it wasn’t intended. I went to the members’ room afterwards and there were members of all parties there. We had a discussion but I think we’ve gone past the cage rattling.” He states that the unionist grouping on the Council would never take the “foolish” route of voting according to ‘they are for it, so I am against it’.

He sums up: “Different issues can come along and emotions can rise. We can disagree, but all 23 Councillors work together for the good of Fermanagh; it’s as simple as that.” Asked if relationships between Councillors are worsening, DUP Councillor of 37 years Bert Johnston, tells The Impartial Reporter that things were much worse during the Troubles era. “I mean, we used to sit with people who were the mouth pieces of the Provisional IRA; we are not sitting with those people now; those people aren’t shooting us any more, so I think that’s progress; that’s better than what we had,” he says. He adds: “When an issue comes before the Council, I wouldn’t consider the party bringing it forward, I would consider whether the issue is moral and right, and if it is moral and right, then I would be supporting it no matter what party it comes from; I think it’s right that we should do that.” Another Council veteran, the SDLP’s John O’Kane states: “We all have our political differences and sometimes we knock the spots off each other, but when it’s over and done with, you walk out of the chamber and that’s it, it’s all forgotten.” However, Barry Doherty admits that “once or twice” the ill-feeling has followed Councillors out of the Chamber. He is quick to add: “You need to have a very strong skin to be a Councillor. If I want to get precious about everything that’s been said to me, constituents have said far worse to me than any politician has ever said.” Since he was elected to the Council in 2011, Mr. Doherty says that “80 per cent of the time, everything is non-contentious and we are working and are doing the right thing. But, sometimes we get a situation where, for whatever reason, unionists do not want to discuss it. Rather than give their reasons for not wanting to discuss it, they drag up the past.” Asked if Sinn Féin has antagonised unionist parties by bringing forward a motion on welfare cuts when the party has blocked welfare reform at Stormont, resulting in an £87 million fine, or a motion on respecting diversity the day after a hunger strike march in Derrylin, Mr. Doherty replies: “We are not blocking the cuts. This is where it gets confusing.” He adds: “Are Republicans not part of the diversity too? When we were talking about diversity it had absolutely nothing to do with the march in Derrylin.” He believes: “There are things that, because of history we are going to argue about in the weeks ahead, in the months ahead and the years ahead.” A Councillor for 33 years, John O’Kane reflects: “Given what’s happening up at Stormont, you might think that it would transfer down to Fermanagh between Sinn Fein and the DUP. I wouldn’t hold with that but maybe I’m too close to it to notice.” He admits: “In fairness, in the past I’ve had many difficulties with the unionists on issues such as Irish language, but all parties are getting on well. There’s a live and let live attitude. In many ways the Council is treading water until the Fermanagh and Omagh Council takes over in April 2015.” He admits that “there are times when one party comes up with something that you agree with, you can’t show you agree.” Mr O’Kane concludes: “We wouldn’t be bosom buddies, but if you are looking for that you join a golf club or a bridge club, not politics. When in politics, you expect to deal with people you oppose on certain aspects.”