Ulster Unionist Party Deputy Leader Robbie Butler MLA has hit out at the outrageous decision of the Sinn Fein dominated Fermanagh and Omagh Council to formally silence one of its elected Ulster Unionist Party members.

Robbie Butler said, “I’ve known Councillor Mark Ovens for many years and I was delighted when he was elected to Fermanagh and Omagh Council in 2023. As a young family man, I’ve always found him to be genuine and deeply proud of his Fermanagh roots.

“So the accusation made against him on Tuesday evening that he had somehow brought the Council into disrepute, for no other reason than simply challenging the Council for passing an important decision in secret, is just so totally bizarre.

“What then followed in the meeting, however, was a total and outrageous affront to democracy. The Sinn Fein grouping, which holds an outright majority on the Council, came together in an obvious attempt to silence, intimidate and bully Cllr Ovens from speaking up. Whilst they may have used their sheer dominance on the Council to succeed in preventing him from taking part in the rest of the meeting, if I know Mark, that won’t stop him from speaking up for local ratepayers.

“It’s also notable that the highly unusual move to silence him was made early into the first meeting being watched over by Sinn Fein’s newly appointed Council Chairman, Barry McElduff. This is the same Council Chairman who had to step down as an MP in disgrace in 2018 for causing huge upset and offence by disgustingly posting a video of himself in a shop with a loaf of Kingsmill bread on his head on the 42nd anniversary of the Kingsmills Massacre.

“This issue runs much deeper than just a local internal Council dispute. The Sinn Fein leadership now need to quickly come forward and clarify whether they stand by the disgraceful actions of their Fermanagh & Omagh members to censor fair and genuine debate, or whether they think that in Council’s where they have the majority and call all the shots it’s acceptable for them to throw their weight around to stamp out and silence any alternative viewpoints.”