Cllr Howard Thornton appointed as Council Chairman

5th June 2018

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At the Annual General Meeting of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council on Monday 4 June 2018 Councillor Howard Thornton was elected as Chair for the incoming year, while Councillor John Feely was elected Vice-Chair.

Councillor Thornton, an Ulster Unionist representative for the Enniskillen District Electoral Area, was nominated by his party’s Nominating Officer Councillor Alex Baird.

Accepting the role of Chair of the Council, Councillor Thornton thanked his party colleagues for entrusting him with the role of Chairman.  He paid tribute to his family and to those who had initially inspired his political aspirations referring to his familial connections in politics as both his great uncle William and William’s son, Dick, had served as Chairmen of Enniskillen Rural District Council while Dick also served a term as Chairman of Fermanagh District Council.

Councillor Thornton outlined some of the challenges which faced the Council and undertook to represent all the people of the district to the best of his ability as first citizen and to promote the area at every opportunity.

Councillor John Feely, a Sinn Féin representative for the Erne North District Electoral Area was nominated by his party’s Nominating Officer, Councillor Marty McColgan.

Councillor Feely also thanked his party colleagues for placing their faith in him and spoke about his commitment to the role of Council Vice-Chairman.

The following Councillors were elected as Chairs of the Council’s Standing Committees:

Environmental Services
Cllr Mary Garrity

Regeneration & Community  
Cllr Debbie Coyle

Policy & Resources  
Cllr Sean Donnelly

Planning   
Cllr John Coyle

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

The members of the Planning Committee were elected as follows:

Cllr John Coyle (Chair); Cllr Robert Irvine; Cllr Barry McNally; Cllr Glenn Campbell; Cllr Tommy Maguire; Cllr Brian McCaffrey; Cllr Barry Doherty; Cllr Mary Garrity; Cllr Brendan Gallagher; Cllr Paul Robinson; Cllr Errol Thompson; Cllr Howard Thornton and Cllr Allan Rainey.