Councillors take aim at 'invisible' council officials

​The comments were made by councillors at a special meeting of Newry, Mourne and Down District Council held on Monday night where a motion was passed calling for a “robust and comprehensive review of its response throughout these incidents”.

During the discussion, Sinn Fein’s Newry councillor Aidan Mathers said businesses on the ground “were asking where the senior council officials where”.

He added: “In the absence of council officials being on the ground and providing support, I want to commend people like Eamonn Connolly from Newry BID who were there, in the thick of it, offering practical help and support to those who needed it.

"Most of the damage done was to commercial and local businesses which have been decimated. Most of these businesses are family run as well as that a lot of food outlets who can't relocate due to the logistics and nature of their operations.

“Businesses need answers as to how this happened and more importantly, what steps will be taken to prevent future occurrences. It wasn’t just the town centres that were affected.

“A focus needs placed on Flurrybridge Enterprise Park which was also devastated by flood damage. The council needs to step up and take the lead in the recovery of our district and ensure proper support mechanisms are put in place.”

Independent councillor, Jarlath Tinnelly, said he was glad there would be a review.

“I hope it’s a very robust independent review [which] will shine the light and ask awkward questions including of our council to see and identify the shortcomings and the problems that may have arisen last week that could have been mitigated against,” he added.

“We are hearing all sorts of stories, certainly I am, coming out of the Newry end where people, the term that is being used – ‘felt abandoned’ over the couple of days following the flood.

“Councillor Mathers has already touched on it; that senior council personnel were invisible on the ground – that was the perception in the days flowing the worst accesses of the flooding and people felt they weren’t getting the information in a timely manner.

“But it is also important to acknowledge the work that was done post the catastrophic situation both in Newry and Downpatrick. But we cannot lose sight of the focus that needs to be put on as to what council could have done, as to what other agencies could have done, pre the damage that took place, pre the event happening.

“Who knew what and at what time? These are the questions that need to be asked.

“I heard one of the shop owners on this morning [Monday] to say that he was contacted by a fellow businessman at 10pm on Monday night, and that was the first word he had of that but yet one of the agencies had also been on the radio this morning saying there multi-agency meetings had been going on all through the day and all interested parties were being kept abreast and kept aware of what was happening and what was likely to happen.”

Cllr Tinnelly said he wasn’t sure if a multi-agency flood resilience group within the council which met quarterly still met.

"When this review happened, it should be robust, it should be transparent and everybody that has everything to add to this review needs to be invited to make their contribution,” he concluded.