'Tripe' and 'garbage' row erupts in Council

WORDS like 'tripe' and 'garbage' were uttered and one councillor said he was leaving the meeting following another flare-up at Moyle Council.

A row erupted when Sinn Fein councillor Paudie McShane said the Council should carry out an equality impact assessment on how they spend ratepayers' money "to ensure all groups get fair treatment".

But Ulster Unionist councillor Willie Graham hit out at one section of Council spending in which he alleged Unionists had not benefited from what he said was a 70,000 community grants kitty.

Last year both Cllr Graham and DUP councillor Robert McIlroy said they would not sit on the Council panel which selects groups for the grants as they claimed previous decisions were unfair against the Unionist community.

At that time nationalist councillors said there was no discrimination against Unionists and said the reason why there were refusals was because appropriate criteria was not met by groups from the Causeway electoral area.

But the situation has resurfaced and it all comes on the back of tension between Unionist and nationalist councillors over the decision of the nationalist-controlled Council not to retain Woodvale Toilets block in Bushmills for potential community use.

Council Chief Executive Richard Lewis was unsure what the practicalities of the equality impact assessment on rates estimates will be and said a person would perhaps have to be employed to do the work.

Cllr McShane insisted the equality assessment is needed.

He added: "It is essential, given comments we here in this Council, so these concerns can be addressed and Council can be seen to be beyond reproach."

But Councillor Graham raised the community grants issue.

He said the community grants money "went to one side of the house".

He said he would like to see a report to see on who has gained from the cash and he alleged: "A Unionist has never got benefit from it".

The meeting was coming to a close but Independent councillor Randal McDonnell got up at that stage and said he was leaving.

"I'm sick listening to this garbage," he announced before departure.

Councillor McShane said two of the groups which received money from the Council under the community grants initiative were Armoy Road Races and Corrymeela.

He added: "They would not want to be described as one side of the house or the other. They work for everybody."

DUP councillor David McAllister added however that those two organisations are not based in the Causeway electoral area.

Cllr Graham said the matter should be put on the agenda for another meeting "because it always goes to the nationalist community."

Council Chairperson, Cllr Cara McShane (Sinn Fein), said Cllr Graham's remarks were "absolute tripe".

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