‘Meeting the Local Council’ by Joe McVeigh

Along with two others involved in the Border Communities Against Brexit, I was  recently invited to address a meeting of members of the Fermanagh and Omagh District Council  in Enniskillen Town Hall.  Most of the councillors attended- except the DUP.  My two colleagues from BCAB, were Johnnie Kelly, a hotelier from Strabane and Dermot O’Hara from Derry who works with people with learning disabilities. I had never been to a council meeting in my life before so it was all new to me. I must confess to being a little bit nervous in these strange surroundings. The Council officials made us feel welcome.

Each of us was asked to speak about the aims of BCAB which, in summary, are to stop a ‘hard border’ in Ireland and to get recognition for the Remain vote in the north. The two men from Derry and Strabane had addressed the Derry and Strabane Council the day before and were well-prepared. They presented clear arguments against the implantation of Brexit in the north of Ireland. We received a respectful hearing from all present. The DUP boycotted the meeting. We were thanked by most present and we received  full support for our campaign from SF, the SDLP and the sole independent Bernie Swift . However, the reaction of the Official Unionists was generally hostile and some were downright insulting. One unionist objected to the use of words like ‘Tories’ for Conservatives or the north of Ireland. One unionist complained about me – referring to a letter I wrote in the Fermanagh Herald expressing my desire that people would stay united to Europe and the rest of Ireland. This he felt was a political statement and undermined the claim that we were a non-political group. As far as the Unionists present were concerned the UK vote to Leave must be upheld, even though one Official Unionist confessed that he voted Remain. He said we must abide by the majority UK vote since it was on that basis the referendum was held.

It was a strange meeting – nothing like I have ever been at before. There was some bad manners from a few of the Unionist councillors. However, I was impressed with the overall courtesy from councillors and officials.

At the end of the proceedings, the Chairperson, Ann Garrity from the SDLP, allowed me to say a few words to the chamber. I said in conclusion: “I admire each one of you for the work you do in representing the people who elected you. Thank you for listening respectfully to what we had to say about the Brexit result. Some of you do not agree with us but that is democracy. I am a democrat. I hope this is just the beginning of a long and necessary conversation about the future of our country.”