Suspended councillor hits back: Other politicians up to same things that got me banned, says UUP man Mark Ovens
A Ulster Unionist politician has lashed out at a two-month ban from taking his council seat, saying plenty of others were doing the same things that got him suspended.
Mark Ovens was today judged to have brought his position as a councillor into disrepute due to conflicts of intertest between his political career and his job as a Stormont special advisor (SpAd).
He now claims that behaviour he was criticised for is “the prevailing practice” among councillors in Fermanagh and Omagh – and he’s won the backing of his party’s deputy leader, MLA Diana Armstrong, who claimed his suspension shows there’s a “cold-house approach to scrutiny within that council”.
Mr Ovens was elected to Fermanagh and Omagh Council in 2023, becoming the only unionist representing the otherwise heavily nationalist Erne West district. He was also a SpAd, reportedly to two successive UUP health ministers, Robin Swann and Mike Nesbitt.
A probe today found he repeatedly sat through council meetings he should have left due to a conflict of interest with his Stormont role, at one point including a confidential legal briefing.
The Northern Ireland Local Government Commissioner for Standards concluded that although Mr Ovens didn’t speak or vote on the relevant matters, he shouldn’t have been present at all.
She also found he didn’t file a register of his interests until more than two years after he won his council seat. Newly elected councillors are supposed to do so within 28 days.
The suspended politician has now hit back, stating that although he accepts today’s findings “remaining in meetings was, and still is, the prevailing practice for almost all other councillors after declaring an interest”.
Mr Ovens admitted that he still should have “adopted an even more precautionary approach”, though reinforced that other councillors knew he was a SpAd and he regularly stated himself to be one on the record.
And while he also admitted failing to complete his register of interests in time, he claimed “more than half of the other members of the council also submitted theirs beyond 28 days, yet no complaint by the chief executive was ever made about them”.
He stated: “My priority has always been the ratepayers of Fermanagh and Omagh, not protecting the institution of Fermanagh and Omagh Council from scrutiny.
“I will continue to be an unapologetic advocate for the people of Erne West. That will not change, not now, not over the next two months, and not in the years ahead. If anything, this process has strengthened my resolve.”
Fermanagh and South Tyrone MLA Ms Armstrong stated that Mr Ovens “continues to have my full support and that of the Ulster Unionist Party”.
Stating the suspended politician “has a young family and a demanding job in Belfast, yet still lives in rural Fermanagh”, she pointed to his record “highlighting ongoing failure in local service delivery”.
Said the UUP deputy leader: “He has never been afraid to ask uncomfortable questions, and that determination to hold the council to account is an important part of his record.
“A two-month suspension is a significant sanction, particularly for the constituents who elected him. While I respect the independent role of the commissioner, I remain deeply concerned about the wider culture within Fermanagh and Omagh Council.”
The council has been contacted.