Omagh council pledges to come up with ‘cost of living crisis’ action plan

ON Monday night, Fermanagh and Omagh District Council passed a motion officially recognising the toll that the deepening cost of living crisis is taking on people across the district, and pledging, as a local authority, to come up with an action plan to help mitigate the damage it is causing within our communities.

The motion was passed at a special ‘cost of living crisis’ meeting organised by the council to formulate a local response to the dramatic price increases we are facing on many of our most basic necessities, including home heating oil, electricity and gas, food, and, of course, petrol and diesel, which seem to be getting more expensive by the hour.

As well as committing itself to using every means within its power to alleviate these pressures for households within the district, the council also recognised that a viable solution must include action at higher levels of government.

The council called for the restoration of the Executive in order to allow the creation of a budget, and also, vitally, so that £300m worth of relief funds, which are presently inaccessible as a result of the DUP’s collapse of Stormont, can be released to help people who are struggling.

The motion also included a commitment that the council will lobby the Westminster Government to play – where local ministers cannot – an active role in relieving financial strain for local households, by; scrapping VAT on domestic energy bills and cutting duty on home heating oil, petrol and diesel; introducing a windfall tax on energy generators and redirecting money towards supporting families; reversing the planned increase in national insurance contributions; and halting the planned change in red diesel entitlement.

The motion was passed by a sizeable majority, as were amendments proposed by SDLP councillor, Adam Gannon, including; support for the extension of the £200 energy payment to all bill payers; and, a commitment to support MLA Mark Durkan’s Private Members Bill to release the £300m which is currently sitting idle at Stormont.

Of those who spoke during the meeting on Monday night, only three councillors said they would not be supporting the motion.

Two UUP councillors, Matthew Bell and Robert Irvine, said that while they agreed with much of the motion, they could not get behind all of it because it had been ‘politicised’, therefore could not support it.

Councillors Bert Wilson and Keith Elliott, also rejected the motion, the latter stating, “Sinn Fein are obviously trying to focus on the £300m to cover up the embarrassment at the fact they had a finance minister who wasn’t able to bring a budget that any party outside Sinn Fein actually supported.”

Commenting on the outcome of the meeting, proposer of the motion, Sinn Fein councillor, Barry McElduff said, “I am pleased that the motion was passed.

“As a council, we must give voice to the needs of people and act accordingly.

“Can you believe that there is over £300m sitting there which could make a real difference in the here and now. It just needs the Executive to be restored.

“This cost of living crisis is severely impacting everyone across all creeds. We have work to do as a council.”

Cllr McElduff added, “But central government has more policy levers than we do and that is where our lobbying and representative roles come in.”