TUV Chairman and East Londonderry Assembly candidate Councillor Allister Kyle has said elected representatives must uphold the law, as TUV councillors lodge formal complaints about six councillors who were reportedly present at the Garvaghy Road blockade on Sunday 27th September.
TUV councillors have written to the Local Government Commissioner for Standards about conduct by councillors from three councils: Kathleen McGurk, Sean McGlinchey and Sean Bateson (Causeway Coast and Glens), Lord Mayor Mary O’Dowd and Catherine Nelson (Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon)and James McKeown (Mid and East Antrim).
The matter has also been raised with the PSNI Chief Constable.
Councillor Kyle said:
“Councillors pledge to uphold the law and the public are entitled to expect them to set the example.
“What happened in Portadown on Sunday past was not a lawful protest. Where councillors, including a Lord Mayor, are photographed or publicly identified among those gathered, serious questions arise under the Code of Conduct. The Code requires councillors to act lawfully and to protect public trust in their councils.
“We have also raised the matter with the PSNI in relation to all these councillors.
“Public confidence in the rule of law was trashed last weekend when these councillors – alongside government ministers – openly defied not only the Parades Commission but the highest court in the land and the police.
“Frankly, we have little confidence that the PSNI will take the actions necessary given their shameful surrender of the streets to the mob but it is up to them to prove us wrong and show that the rule of law applies.
“There is also an onus on other Unionists. Sinn Fein are supposedly only acceptable in government because of their support for the police and the courts. Sunday exposed that to be a sham. There is therefore a moral obligation on those who remain committed to the rule of law to cease partnering them in the executive.”