Ulster Unionist Councillor for Cookstown Trevor Wilson has expressed disappointment after a motion expressing loss of confidence in DAERA over the Fivemiletown operation fell by 19 votes to 18 at a special meeting of Mid Ulster District Council.

Councillor Wilson said:

“This motion fell by one vote. One. The people of the Clogher Valley watched an operation unfold in their fields in broad daylight, and last night this council came within a single vote of saying so plainly.

“In July, Councillor McConnell stood in this chamber and described what happened as being like a scene from the Wild West. He spoke of cars blocking roads, of people standing on ditches watching, of animals breaking loose and being pursued into a forest. He was right, and I said so at the time. I said so again last night, because credit is due to the man who first put this before the public.

“He has said a great deal about it on radio and on television. Last night, in the chamber, on the one occasion when what he said would have counted for something, he did not speak.

“Strong words on the airwaves cost nothing. A word in that chamber last night was worth more than every interview he has given, because one vote was all that stood between this council speaking for the Clogher Valley and this council saying nothing at all. He chose the microphone over the motion, and the people of this valley will draw their own conclusions about why, and about who decided it.

“Waiting for a review is not a position, it is a delay. Nine Freedom of Information requests about this operation have been refused. The Department does not deny holding the information. Officials would not tell the Assembly committee how many shots were fired. A calf was found injured three days later and the Department could not say whether it had shot it. None of that gets answered by sitting on our hands.

“Whatever anyone thinks of that review, I would urge everyone locally with relevant information to put it forward before four o'clock on Monday the fifteenth of September. Farmers have every right to be sceptical about the process. They have more right still to be heard within it.

“My party has already said it has no confidence in this Minister. Last night eighteen members of this council were prepared to say something similar. That is not going away, and neither am I.”