Statement Presented to Moyle Council Meeting on Monday 22 August 2011
by Cllr Sharon McKilop (TUV)

“I propose that Moyle Council revoke the decision to support the twinning project with Gaza.

I wish to take this opportunity to urge my fellow Councillors to carefully consider this proposal. I fear that the implications of the twinning project between Moyle and Gaza Councils will have a negative impact on Moyle Council.

I would also call on Cllr McShane to declare his personal interest in the twinning project given that he has travelled to Gaza and participated in a number of projects relating to Gaza. Furthermore he has proceeded to invite Gaza representatives to Moyle despite the draft proposal not having been signed off. Therefore Cllr McShane has demonstrated that he is unable to remain impartial in this debate. Therefore in the interests of transparency and democracy I would call on Cllr McShane to absent him-self from the discussion.

While there are further political arguments against the twinning project I would prefer that the debate focuses on what is best for Moyle Council and for the people of this borough which we are all elected to represent regardless of political opinions.

Therefore for the purposes of clarity and so that there can be no confusion on my position I will succinctly outline why Councillors should choose the sensible option of revoking the decision of the previous Council to undertake a twinning project.

1. Community Relations: The previous Council decided to proceed with the twinning project despite all elected unionist representatives rejecting the proposal. Therefore it is evident that Unionists feel deeply uncomfortable about the twinning project. Cllr McShane has previously claimed that the decision to twin Moyle and Gaza Councils was non-political and that it had support from across the community indeed he further claimed that it was a collective decision by  Moyle Council (Ballymoney Times 6/4/11). However the decision to twin Moyle and Gaza councils was never supported by Unionist representatives and therefore never commanded community support. I would therefore ask council representatives to consider how the twinning project could have a positive impact on local relations when a significant minority remain hostile to it.

2. Tourism: Gaza Council is controlled by the Hamas group. Hamas seized political power in 2007 and this year refused to hold legitimate municipal elections. Furthermore Hamas remain classified as a terrorist organisation within both Europe and the US. Not only do these honest facts provide a basis for questioning the legitimacy of the Gaza Council it also means that visitors from the US and elsewhere in Europe may chose not to visit the Moyle area or at best be uncomfortable about doing so because their governments view Hamas as a terrorist organisation. 

3. Administration/Costs to Taxpayer: The costs to the taxpayer remain unknown. What will the administration costs associated with the project amount to? Will Moyle Council be funding the visit of Gaza representatives? How much will the ‘urban planning’ amount to and most importantly as already highlighted how much will it cost in lost revenue from tourism? With these economic questions unanswered how can councillors continue to support the twinning experiment?

Given these arguments that I have clearly presented I would close by asking my colleagues if they really want to twin our Council with somewhere that would divide the community and hinder economic progress.

This move is both backward and divisive – if Moyle Council want to ‘move forward’ then they should revoke the twinning motion.”