Belfast's absentee councillor: Former Deputy Mayor missed more than 80% of meetings over 18 months

A high-profile former deputy mayor and former SDLP member who sensationally quit the party in the run-up to the last election only to win through as an independent, Paul McCusker hasn’t shown up for more than four out of every five council and committee meetings on his schedule from mid-December 2023 to the end of last month.

It gives him by far the worst absenteeism rate of any politician currently on Belfast City Council – and he also missed nine consecutive months of a provincewide body on which he represents Belfast, resulting in that body effectively cutting off contact.

The politician, elected to the Oldpark district in the north of the city, says he has been too busy tackling a homelessness crisis to attend meetings.

From mid-December 2023 to the end of May 2025, Mr McCusker had 54 council and committee meetings on his schedule. He went to 10 of them, meaning he missed 81.5% of the Belfast City Council meetings he was supposed to be at.

Politicians can either attend in person or dial into meetings via video conferencing; 44 times inside the space of 18 months, Mr McCusker did neither, instead simply not being present in any capacity.

Councillors get £15,600 per year basic salary, yet provincewide rules say disciplinary procedures for non-attendance only kick in if they miss every single council, committee and board meeting in a six-month period. If they show up for a just one meeting inside six months, nothing will be done – and Mr McCusker cleared that minimum target.

While political parties can discipline their members if they feel someone’s attendance is slipping, as an independent Mr McCusker doesn’t have a party overseeing him.

Quizzed over his absence rate, the councillor told the News Letter: “My attendance at meetings was low due to dealing with a housing crisis on the streets of Belfast and being committed to a project in Belfast that supports hundreds of individuals per week presenting in crisis.

“Being an independent councillor I do not have other party members to represent me at meetings and my demands in the community, I felt, were more important. I will continue to provide support and be a voice for those in Belfast who are homeless and feel forgotten.”

Mr McCusker also missed nine consecutive months of the provincewide Housing Council, to which he was appointed to represent Belfast City Council.

Absent from August 2024 to April 2025, at one point Belfast officials went as far as promising the provincewide body he would definitely show up for February’s meeting. He didn’t, and eventually the Housing Council decided it was no longer going to send meeting reports and minutes to either Mr McCusker or Belfast City Council as a whole, effectively breaking off contact with the local authority for a city of almost 350,000 people.

At one point a member of that body remarked that Mr McCusker was appearing in the media to complain about homelessness, while missing meetings at which it could be discussed.

The councillor did go to last month’s Housing Council meeting, and states he “made a full representation to the chair and council regarding not being able to attend meetings”.