Fermanagh County Council was the authority responsible for local government in

County Fermanagh County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the six counties of Northern Ireland. The county covers an area of 1,691 km2 (653 sq mi) and has a population of 61,805 a ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, between 1899 and 1973. It was originally based at the

Enniskillen Courthouse Enniskillen Courthouse is a judicial facility in East Bridge Street, Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is a Grade B listed building. History The East Bridge Street site had previously been occupied by a gaol which had been buil ...

, but moved to County Buildings in East Bridge Street,

Enniskillen Enniskillen ( , from ga, Inis Ceithleann , 'Cethlenn, Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of ...

, in 1960.

History

Fermanagh County Council was formed under orders issued in accordance with the

Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 The Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 (61 & 62 Vict. c. 37) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland that established a system of local government in Ireland similar to that already created for England, ...

which came into effect on 18 April 1899. Elections were held using

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

until 1922 when it was abolished in favour of

first past the post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

. In 1921, shortly before the

partition of Ireland The partition of Ireland ( ga, críochdheighilt na hÉireann) was the process by which the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland divided Ireland into two self-governing polities: Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland. I ...

and transfer of power from the

Dublin Castle administration Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 cen ...

, Fermanagh County Council passed a resolution on a 13–10 majority not to recognise the newly formed

Parliament of Northern Ireland The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which sat from 7 June 1921 to 30 March 1972, when it was suspended because of its inability to restore ord ...

and pledged their allegiance to the unrecognised republican

Second Dáil The Second Dáil () was Dáil Éireann as it convened from 16 August 1921 until 8 June 1922. From 1919 to 1922, Dáil Éireann was the revolutionary parliament of the self-proclaimed Irish Republic. The Second Dáil consisted of members elected ...

of the self-proclaimed

Irish Republic The Irish Republic ( ga, Poblacht na hÉireann or ) was an unrecognised revolutionary state that declared its independence from the United Kingdom in January 1919. The Republic claimed jurisdiction over the whole island of Ireland, but by ...

Southern Ireland Southern Ireland, South Ireland or South of Ireland may refer to: *The southern part of the island of Ireland *Southern Ireland (1921–1922), a former constituent part of the United Kingdom *Republic of Ireland, which is sometimes referred to as ...

before the ratification of the

Anglo-Irish Treaty The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty ( ga , An Conradh Angla-Éireannach), commonly known in Ireland as The Treaty and officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was an agreement between the government of the ...

. The resolution stated: "We, the County Council of Fermanagh, in view of the expressed desire of a large majority of people in this county, do not recognise the partition parliament in Belfast and do hereby direct our Secretary to hold no further communications with either Belfast or British Local Government Departments, and we pledge our allegiance to Dáil Éireann." In response, the

Royal Irish Constabulary The Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC, ga, Constáblacht Ríoga na hÉireann; simply called the Irish Constabulary 1836–67) was the police force in Ireland from 1822 until 1922, when all of the country was part of the United Kingdom. A separate ...

evicted them from their council offices and confiscated official documents. As a result, the council was temporarily dissolved. The council were replaced by Commissioners appointed by Sir

Dawson Bates Sir Richard Dawson Bates, 1st Baronet (23 November 1876 – 10 June 1949), known as Dawson Bates, was an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) member of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland. He was born in Strandtown, Belfast, the son of Richard D ...

. The council was reformed by the time of the 1924 Northern Ireland local elections. As a protest against the abolition of proportional representation nationalist parties boycotted the election, allowing unionist parties to take control of the council uncontested. Due to the abolition of proportional representation and

gerrymandering In representative democracies, gerrymandering (, originally ) is the political manipulation of electoral district boundaries with the intent to create undue advantage for a party, group, or socioeconomic class within the constituency. The m ...

, the council always had a unionist majority of councillors elected up until abolition. In 1967, the

Government of Northern Ireland The government of Northern Ireland is, generally speaking, whatever political body exercises political authority over Northern Ireland. A number of separate systems of government exist or have existed in Northern Ireland. Following the partitio ...

passed the County Fermanagh (Transfer of Functions) Order 1967. This made Fermanagh County Council amalgamate with the smaller

Borough Council and the

rural district Rural districts were a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England, Wales, and Ireland for the administration of predominantly rural areas at a level lower than that of the Ad ...

councils in Enniskillen,

Irvinestown Irvinestown is a town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. In 2011 it had a population of 2,267 people. The most notable buildings are Necarne Castle, formerly known as Castle Irvine, and Castle Archdale. Irvinestown is situated within Ferman ...

and

Lisnaskea Lisnaskea () is the second-biggest settlement in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is situated mainly in the townland of Lisoneill, with some areas in the townland of Castle Balfour Demesne, both in the civil parish of Aghalurcher and the ...

to turn Fermanagh County Council into a

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

Later years and abolition

In 1969, the Fermanagh Civil Rights Association published a booklet criticising the council and accusing them of favouring the Protestant community over the Catholic community. Some of the accusations included that the council would deliberately hire Protestants for skilled local government and school jobs and that they proposed to build a new village for Catholics in a gerrymandered district that already had a Catholic majority. The council was abolished in accordance with the

Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972 The Local Government (Northern Ireland) Act 1972 (1972 c. 9) was an Act of the Parliament of Northern Ireland that constituted district councils to administer the twenty-six local government districts created by the Local Government (Boundaries) ...

on 1 October 1973 and replaced by

Fermanagh District Council Fermanagh District Council was a local council in Northern Ireland. It was created out of Fermanagh County Council and later merged with Omagh District Council in April 2015 under local government reorganisation to become Fermanagh and Omagh Di ...

References

{{reflist County councils of Northern Ireland 1899 establishments in Ireland 1973 disestablishments in Northern Ireland

History

Later years and abolition

See also

References