TUV in Council

TUV Member, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I was elected to Moyle Council this year as a TUV representative. Prior to my election I had never been involved in frontline politics however I increasingly identified with the aims, objectives, principles and values of TUV and felt compelled to take a stand against the unaccountable and terrorist inclusive government that has been thrust upon Northern Ireland.

When I put my name forward for Council I did so as a local business woman who had been involved with my local community. I wanted to be in a position that would enable me to contribute further to the local community.

As I contemplated working towards obtaining funding for Liscolman and Bushmills Community groups and toward the cost of repairs and the development of parks I soon found myself faced with the controversial international issue of twinning Moyle with Gaza City.

Moyle Council has a Nationalist majority and the current chairman has been involved in the persistent raising of tensions throughout the borough. He wished to further increase tensions by proposing a deeply divisive and expensive twinning project with Gaza City. However, he soon discovered that the TUV and I wouldn’t be rolling over to his agenda but rather we would be holding him to account.

The decision to twin Moyle with Gaza was originally discussed prior to my entry to Council however, I successfully halted the Chairman’s proposal for a twinning project with Gaza with the issue soon entering the national media with the Telegraph, Newsletter and Irish News reporting. Further afield the Jewish Chronicle took up the story. I refused to bow to pressure and the Council was forced to cancel a planned visit from Gaza officials pending further legal advice.

I then obtained correspondence that proved the Chair was engaging in the twinning project for overtly political rather than humanitarian reasons which would be in contravention of legal advice.

We are now awaiting a decision on the twinning project but one thing is sure TUV have been heard in Moyle and TUV have delivered accountability for those opposed to the expense of a twinning arrangement, for those opposed to the negative image that would be portrayed to tourists and for those opposed to Hamas.

While the Moyle-Gaza saga has afforded me an opportunity to demonstrate the importance of the work TUV can do in the Council Chamber the majority of the work I have undertaken has been very different but equally important.

The majority of my time is deployed working alongside local community groups in an attempt to better the community. I have to date campaigned for increased sporting facilities for our local football team in Bushmills, I have called for the Northern Ireland Housing Executive to act to reduce fuel poverty for the most vulnerable and I have successfully campaigned for three local community groups.

It is this local work for which I was elected and it is this work that makes a real difference to the lives of the people who elected me. I will continue to ensure that their voice is heard and that Moyle Council is held to account.