A SPECIALLY convened meeting of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council to discuss the fall-out from the Local Development Plan (LDP) consultation document errors, in respect of fracking, heard the community praised for their alertness, but also saw severe criticism of how the matter arose.

Matters first came to light earlier this month and it was decided to pause the current consultation and review the entire document.

It has since emerged that more errors were discovered, and a formal audit investigation has commenced to establish how and why these occurred.

Sinn Fein’s Councillor Siobhan Currie said: “As we feared, other parts of the consultation were not as agreed. We are concerned and disappointed.

“This has obviously damaged confidence and can never happen again. The anger in our community isn’t misplaced, and neither is ours.

“We simply don’t expect consultations to be completely contrary to decisions made. It undermines the process.”

Independent Councillor Donal O’Cofaigh described the issue as “bewildering” and felt he and others were shunned in the LDP Steering Group process.

He said: “The entire process has been questionable. We [Independent members] were largely ignored at times.

“We were told by the Chair he ‘represented the silent majority which did not participate in the consultation process. We were told the night before our first meeting we would achieve no changes. I’m left hugely frustrated.”

He expressed disappointment those to whom he wished to raise concerns with were not at the meeting, adding: “There are a lot of people asking questions.”

Councillor Adam Gannon SDLP paid tribute to the community in highlighting the error, but noted: “This has undermined faith in the process.

“There were more mistakes than one. I can understand human error to a degree, but this is of key importance, and deserves full attention and scrutiny at all times.

‘No fracking’

“The original wording, which we thankfully are going back to, essentially says ‘no fracking’. We need to take a very firm position.”

Echoing this, Councillor Thomas O’Reilly, Sinn Fein however said: “While the consultation is going to be restarted, accountability in the work between councillors and officers over the last year has been very much damaged and undermined, along with public trust in how we do business.”

Proposing a broader review, he added: “If we cannot trust decisions to be followed through, there is a major problem.

“I’ve been in the council nearly 20 years, and this is the first time we have come to this juncture.

“We are finding officers either change things to suit their interpretation, or there is a lack of following through. That is moving down through the organisation.

“We agree things which are either inactioned, or take so long, it’s next to impossible to track them. We need to see change quickly.”

Independent Councillor Bernice Swift sought detailed information around the investigation itself, which required the meeting to go into committee, excluding public and press.

Ahead of this, she said: “Confidence has been depleted. I trusted the process, and I was shocked.”

When the meeting was reopened, Councillor Emmet McAleer, Independent, pointed to serious concerns from the start of the process.

He said: “The majority of changes either ignored, not made or reversed were those proposed by Independents. This is one of the dangers of doing business behind closed doors. There is a lot discussed rather needlessly under the cloak of confidentiality.”

‘Alarm bells’

He reiterated: “The Chair of the Steering Group told myself and others quite early on, we would not be getting any changes to the LDP. That set alarms bells ringing.”

There was no response to this or Councillor O’Cofaigh’s similar remarks, as the Steering Group Chair, Robert Irvine, Ulster Unionist, was not in attendance, having recorded an apology.

In respect of the documents itself, Councillor McAleer said: “Human error is one thing, but when you deliberately change wording to the opposite or to a contrary stance, is much more serious.

“The independence of the audit is of paramount importance. Those who changed or authorised changes, cannot be involved.”

Sinn Fein’s Councillor Sheamus Greene recalled he too struggled to get points heard at the Steering Group, and in one instance left the meeting as: “I couldn’t handle being told I was wrong so many times.”

He continued: “I was batted back on every occasion, even though I thought matters had been previously agreed.

“This whole process has been one of the toughest and most frustrating I’ve been involved in.

“The investigation needs to be thorough and the public made aware. A lot of people don’t trust their councillors over this, which is an absolutely serious problem.”