Causeway Coast & Glens Council say no to Rural Parliament request
Causeway Coast and Glens Council has declined another local authority’s request to support the establishment of a Rural Parliament in Northern Ireland.
At June’s full council meeting members were presented with correspondence from Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, which detailed a recent motion to contact all other councils, as well as the Northern Ireland Executive, and request they lobby for a Rural Parliament in Northern Ireland.
The motion stated: “Rural Parliaments are an instrument for raising rural issues and bringing about positive change for communities and individuals.
“As such, Fermanagh and Omagh District Council: recognises the value of Rural Parliaments already employed in several European countries, including Scotland, notes the comprehensive report ‘Rural Parliaments in Europe’ commissioned by the Scottish government in 2012, will contact the Executive Office and the other 10 Councils in this region to lobby for the creation of a Rural Parliament similar to the current Scottish model, [and] requests the Executive and all Councils in the north of Ireland, to co-finance a Rural Parliament in the north of Ireland and to work with the Irish government to form links across the island to establish an All-Island Rural Parliament.
“This Council should endeavour to host the inaugural Rural Parliament in the north when it is established.”
At September’s Corporate Policy and Resources Committee meeting DUP Alderman Mark Fielding successfully proposed council note the correspondence, but take no action.
DUP Councillor Darryl Wilson seconded the proposal and noted: “The crux of what’s been put forward is that Rural Parliaments are an instrument for raising rural issues.
“We have Parliament in Westminster, we have Stormont, and then we have our local councillors. I would like to think that any rural issues will be dealt with through those mechanisms, and where we can, at our numerous subcommittees as well.”