There was a lengthy debate whether the Council should employ environmental officers to carry out export health certifications following Brexit.

At October’s Council meeting in Omagh on October 1, councillors were discussing correspondence from Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA).

Ulster Unionist councillor, John McClaughry said it had got to the stage where it was going to directly affect businesses in the Council district and if it was necessary for the Council to apply for funds to carry out the certifications to allow for the export or movement of eggs and fish, then it should do so.

He said it would be “remiss” of the Council to not take on board the affect it would have on businesses in the area and that delegation of power from the DAERA could be seen as a good thing.

The proposal received support from some across the chamber, with Victor Warrington (UUP) pointing out that Fermanagh was the largest egg producer in the whole of the United Kingdom. However Sinn Féin’s Sheamus Green said he had concerns about why the department was doing this.

“If the department deems that this is necessary and they’re prepared to give x amount of money to the Council to do this why, is the department not doing it? What exactly is the department afraid of?”

“If it’s so simple that we as a Council hire two or three extra staff to do this why can’t the department do this. I think this is the thin side of the wedge and we need to be extremely careful of what we are backing ourselves into here.”

According to Councillor Greene, he said he had been talking to a senior DAERA official who warned him to “be very careful” of what the Council were taking on.

Following a five minute recess requested by Councillor Greene so his party could discuss the matter, his colleague Councillor Thomas O’Reilly said that although they acknowledged the vast amount of people who rely on those businesses and the rights of those businesses to go about their business without any interruption, the Council should go back to the Department of Agriculture very strongly and tell them it was the department’s responsibility.

“I think as Sheamus Greene indicated earlier on this, maybe we don’t know the ramifications of Brexit in the future and we certainly have the experience in this Council where we get responsibilities and powers but not the funding to follow through on them.

“I would propose chair that we go back to DARD very strongly and say stand up to your responsibilities, take this on and employ the officers yourselves. This is a centralised decision in the certifying process that you need to be involved in and stop trying to unload things to the Council.

“I think that is absolutely disgraceful right in the mouth of Brexit within four weeks of Brexit that the department would try to do this to a local Council or to any local council.

“I would say we need to stand up as a local government and say this is not on and you should have been preparing for this, you as DARD as a department have known this for some time.”

Councillor O’Reilly’s proposal also wanted the Council to work in partnership with other Council areas that would be affected by this.

Following two recorded votes, Councillor McClaughry’s proposal was defeated, while Councillor O’Reilly’s was successfully carried.