Sinn Fein vote against motion condemning Derry car bomb – but Mayor casts deciding vote

SINN Fein councillors in Derry voted against a motion condemning violence in the North of Ireland, past or present, after a car bomb attack in the city last Saturday night.

The vote took place at a meeting of Derry City and Strabane District Council on Thursday and the motion passed at the Sinn Fein-dominated council by just one vote.

Councillors discussed the car bomb attack outside the city’s courthouse at the weekend.

A vehicle was hijacked from a fast food delivery driver in the Bogside, before being equipped with the bomb and abandoned outside the court building on Bishop Street.

Fortunately, Nobody was injured in the attack.

On Monday, there followed a series of security alerts in the city as police attended three hoax incidents.

Police blamed the car bomb and security alerts to dissident republican group the ‘New IRA’.

At the council meeting on Thursday Sinn Fein council leader Sandra Duffy tabled a motion calling for council to “oppose recent attacks carried out in the city” and to “call on those responsible to stop these actions immediately”.

The motion was supported by SDLP councillors.

Independent councillor Sean Carr proposed amending the motion to say that council “sends out a clear and unambiguous message that violence is wrong whether that be carried out by the state or those opposed to the state, past or present, and that it must be condemned.”

The SDLP supported the amendment, though it was rejected by Sinn Fein and republican independent councillors.

The DUP and UUP councillors supported the motion, which also condemned security forces violence, leaving the vote tied at 18-18.

SDLP Mayor of Derry and Strabane John Boyle had the deciding vote and the motion was passed.

Speaking after the meeting former SDLP councillor Carr said that supporting the motion was the “right thing to do”.

“When I signed up to the SDLP over 20 years ago one of their main policies was to condemn violence no matter were it come from, I to this day still hold the same principles as an independent councillor,” he said.

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