A group calling themselves 'The Silent Majority' has slammed Fermanagh and Omagh District Council over its decision to earmark more than £700,000 for external consultants and barristers to oppose the Dalradian Mine project at a public inquiry.

In a letter obtained by The Impartial Reporter from The Silent Majority, a community-based group that was established to give a voice of local people in support of the Dalradian Project, the group say that they stand for “economic investment, good jobs with high levels of environmental protection, which we believe the Dalradian project will bring to our local area”.

The letter was sent to Councillors by Gerry Kelly, the chairman of the group.

The letter stated: “We support the investment Dalradian have promised of £750million over the lifetime of the mine with the creation of 1,000 jobs. It would be transformational for our part of Tyrone.”

Referencing an article in The Impartial Reporter earlier this month, [October 10, The secret talks Council talks that could cost ratepayers more than £700,000], the group outlaid their horror.

“We were completely horrified at the Council earmarking over £700,000 to oppose the Dalradian Mine at the public inquiry. Having carried out some research over the weekend we believe this is completely unheard of for any council across the North to spend such a substantial amount of money on external consultants or barristers to object to a planning application.”

Calling on the Council to support the project, the letter stated: “We believe that our council should be supporting the Dalradian Mine Project to bring quality jobs and investment. We have always said that the council have taken the wrong position. But for the council to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds actively objecting to economic investment is completely shocking.”

The group and Mr. Kelly were critical of the Council’s practice of meeting during confidential business to discuss this.

Mr. Kelly stated: “ To make matters worse, the practice of moving to discuss business behind closed doors is not a good look for the council. What does the council have to hide from us the voters?”

The group are calling for “each councillor” to “re-examine their approach” to the Dalradian project, “Our simple ask of each councillor is to simply re-examine your approach to the Dalradian Project.

“We are firmly of the view that the approach of spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on a barrister and consultants in opposing it at Public Inquiry does not represent value for money for the ratepayers. Indeed, it is completely unprecedented, and not the role of council.

“Whilst we would encourage you to support the project, we sincerely urge you to ask any hard questions of Dalradian as we have done if you have concerns. We believe the council will have missed a trick if it doesn’t seriously look at the project and how it can benefit from it.”

The letter concluded by stating: “And we hope the local press will continue to shine a light on the secret meetings and the unusual spending of our council.”

The Impartial Reporter asked Fermanagh and Omagh District Council if they were aware of the letter and if it will be dealt with at a Council meeting.

A spokeswoman for the Council said: “While individual Councillors may be in receipt of correspondence, the letter has not been submitted to the Council corporately.

The spokeswoman added: “As the Council is not in receipt of the correspondence in question, we are unable to confirm its content or whether or not it would be considered at a Council or Committee meeting.”