COUNCILLORS have been grilled on a recent decision to offer hot meals before Council meetings and Committee meetings - on the ratepayer - following a vote that was made in secret.

Before Tuesday night’s council meeting at The Grange, Omagh, The Impartial Reporter asked councillors questions about the controversial policy, including:

1) Do you think it is right that ratepayer’s money is spent on food for Councillors while other services are in difficulty (such as bin collections)?

2) Is it right that the vote was made in secret?

3) What are you eating tonight - on the ratepayer?

Responses among councillors were mixed.

Sinn Féin Councillor, Sheamus Greene, shut down the debate before he could be asked the first question.

“It’s that pathetic I wouldn’t even answer it,” he said. “You should have let Rodney [Edwards] come, you know, and be nasty and pathetic himself. I wouldn’t even lower myself to answering it.”

Meanwhile, Ulster Unionist Councillor Mark Ovens said providing free meals for councillors is “wrong”.

“No, it’s not acceptable,” he said. “It was an abuse of Council procedures that it was voted for in secret and that’s why, during the process, I raised it with officials inside the Council that I didn’t feel it was appropriate to be done under confidential.”

The Erne West councillor added: “I will be having my dinner when I get home, the same as everyone else who goes to do a day’s work.”

When questioned about the free meal provision, Sinn Féin’s Anthony Feely said it was “better to be honest”.

“It would be very hypocritical of me to say not because I did get food”, he said.

On the secrecy element, he said: “It should have been done in open business. Transparency is important.”

When asked what was on the menu, he responded: “I think lasagne! Better to be honest about it!”

Ulster Unionist Councillor Victor Warrington said he doesn’t avail of the food served to councillors.

“All I will say is I don’t avail of it. I had my dinner before I left the house. That’s the only comment I will be making.”

Other councillors questioned the validity of the debate around the free meals.

Sinn Féin Councillor Stephen McCann, said: “The health service is falling apart. GP services are about to collapse locally. People can’t get a GP. On the A5, people are getting killed, day in and day out. And you want to talk about food?”

Democratic Unionist Councillor Shirley Hawke’s said that she voted for the meal provision, but felt that the issue was “blown out of proportion.”

“I voted for the food, but I took the point of view that if a councillor is working until 5.30/6pm, and they were driving a full hour to get here almost, they might not have time to have their evening meal.”

The SDLP’s Adam Gannon said that the meal provision is helpful to councillors, but added that his party voted against it.

“It’s not a massive external company that’s doing it, it’s the internal canteen,” the Councillor said. “It’s the food that’s already there. I, myself, have availed of it.

“Like any job that would require you to be away from home at times and not being able to eat, it’s there.”

He added: “We (the SDLP) voted against the expansion of it, simply because we didn’t think it was worthwhile for smaller committees.

Ulster Unionist Councillor Roy Crawford said that the free meals for councillors “isn’t necessary”.

“I think there is an argument to be had there, as there are provisions in place for elected representatives. That in itself maybe needs to be looked at, but I don’t feel it’s (the free meals) necessary.”

On the secrecy of the vote, he said: “Again, that’s the policy of the Council, but I would prefer that it was open and not confidential. I do feel it’s in the public interest.”

When asked if he had ordered a meal for the meeting, Councillor Crawford said: “I have had my tea thanks!” But, according to internal emails seen by this newspaper, Councillor Crawford has previously availed of the free food.

Alliance Councillor Eddie Roofe said that is more than happy to pay for food himself, as opposed to the ratepayer.

“We made it clear that, as a party, we voted against it in the first place,” he said. “We made it clear that are more than happy to pay for it ourselves.”

When asked if he had ordered a meal, Councillor Roofe said: “I am not having anything to eat tonight!”

Meanwhile, Erne North UUP councillor, John McClaughry, argued that the meals provided to councillor’s aren’t extravagant.

“It’s not as if we are going to Café Merlot [which closed a number of years ago] and sitting down with a nice bottle of wine,” he said. “But maybe we need to be more open and transparent with allowances that councillors are entitled to.”

He added: “As a pensioner, I can eat at home. I am institutionalised, I eat at 5pm every day. I am lucky that I can do so. For other (Councillors), that’s a problem.”

Independent councillor, Josephine Deehan, said that she is fully supportive of the meal provision for councillors.

“Fundamentally, everyone needs food, and everyone needs to eat. I do support the council,” she said.

“I didn’t feel that it particularly required a confidential vote. But I don’t think that any councillor had anything to be concerned about. If you come in for a long meeting, everyone has got to have nourishment.”

Other councillors offered no comment, including Sinn Féin’s Tommy Maguire, Debbie Coyle, Nolleen Hayes and Councillor Pádraigín Kelly. At least one of these councillors told a private meeting later that they felt “uncomfortable at having a camera in my face”.

Meanwhile, minutes before the start of the 7pm meeting drew near, Sinn Féin John Feely said he didn’t have time to comment.

“Sorry, it’s a 7pm meeting,” he said, before entering the doors of The Grange, Omagh.