Councillor Errol Thompson appointed Chair of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council

At the Annual Meeting of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council held in the Townhall Chamber socially distanced with other Councillors attending remotely, Councillor Errol Thompson, Democratic Unionist Party, was nominated as Council Chair for 2021-22. Councillor Chris McCaffrey, Sinn Féin was nominated as Council Vice Chair for the incoming year.

Accepting the role of Chair of the Council, Councillor Thompson said:

“I would like, firstly, to express my thanks to my party colleagues who have entrusted the role of Chair of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council to me for the incoming year. It is a great honour for the party and for me personally to be nominated to the post and I am very grateful for the opportunity to serve the people of the district as Chair.

Since becoming a Councillor in 2010, I have served on many Council committees, sub committees, working groups and as a Council representative on external bodies. I have also had the honour of being elected Chair of the former Omagh District Council and Chair of Omagh Policing and Community Safety Partnership and served on the committee overseeing the transition of power from the legacy Councils to Fermanagh and Omagh District Council.

I am committed to ensuring that the Council, as a civic authority, provides strong leadership and support to the business, voluntary and community sectors to ensure that the district’s recovery from the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic is strong and more importantly sustainable into the future.

One of my key priorities as Chair will be to work with a range of stakeholders to maximise the potential of the district.

With the recent easing of restrictions and the continued roll out of the vaccination scheme, it is my wish that there are better days ahead for us all and I would like to publicly thank the huge number of volunteers and frontline services workers in all sectors who have done so much to keep our communities going in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.  Your efforts have been truly inspirational.

I would like to congratulate the outgoing Chair and Vice Chairman, Councillor Diana Armstrong and Councillor John Coyle, on doing such a wonderful job in their respective roles in what were extremely challenging times and I will endeavour to build on their work and represent all residents to the best of my ability. I look forward to working with you all as Chair of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council in a positive and constructive manner over the next year.”

The following Councillors were nominated as Chair’s of the Council’s Standing Committees for 2021-22:

Environmental Services

Councillor Mark Buchanan

Regeneration & Community

Councillor Victor Warrington

Policy & Resources

Councillor Howard Thornton

Planning

Councillor Thomas O’Reilly

Brexit

Councillor Anthony Feely

All 40 Councillors are members of the Standing Committees, with the exception of the Planning Committee which has a membership of 13 Councillors.

The members of the Planning Committee were nominated as follows:

Councillor Thomas O’Reilly, Chair;

Councillor Glenn Campbell

Councillor John Coyle

Councillor Josephine Deehan

Councillor Sean Donnelly

Councillor Anthony Feely

Councillor Mary Garrity

Councillor Robert Irvine

Councillor Tommy Maguire

Councillor John McClaughry

Councillor Allan Rainey MBE

Councillor Paul Robinson

Councillor Errol Thompson

The first full Council meeting of the 2021-22 Council term will take place virtually tonight, Wednesday 2 June 2021, at 7pm and will be live-streamed on the Council YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/c/FermanaghOmaghDistrictCouncil.