COUNCILLORS are to raise questions about how management stopped a senior official from probing a pub overcrowding complaint despite fears of a "Greenvale-type scenario".
The senior environmental health officer of Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council had planned a follow-up visit to the Harbour Bar in Portrush after a public safety complaint.
But shortly before the scheduled visit with police and fire service personnel last year, the official was ordered by council management not to attend.
The intervention was revealed in yesterday's Irish News after internal emails were obtained by TUV leader Jim Allister through Freedom of Information requests.
Concerns had been raised of overcrowding and street drinking at the pub during The Open golf championship last summer.
In an email to colleagues, an official warned of the need to avoid the potential of a situation unfolding similar to the Greenvale Hotel tragedy in Cookstown, Co Tyrone.
Three teenagers died in the crush tragedy outside the venue on St Patrick's night last year as hundreds of young people queued to enter a disco.
The council official wrote: "Whilst we want a successful week we don't want a Greenvale-type scenario either."
SDLP councillor Angela Mulholland, chair of the council's environmental services committee, said she would be raising the matter at their next meeting.
She said it added more weight to calls for a "forensic audit" of the council in the wake of budget pressures which led to a rates rise.
Sinn Féin councillor Oliver McMullan, who also sits on the committee, said he was "shocked" by the email correspondence and would be raising it with the council.
"Why was this senior environmental health officer told not to go and visit the pub? That I think needs to be explained," he said.
A council spokesman said: "Council officers and PSNI officers attended following a complaint about overcrowding and on-street drinking. The issues were addressed and no further action was required."
