BELFAST City Council is supporting a call for Northern Ireland residents to regain their vote in future European Union Parliamentary Elections, post-Brexit.
A vote at the council’s Climate and Resilience Committee saw a SDLP proposal pass calling on the British and Irish governments, as well as European Commission, to allow Northern Ireland a seat at the European parliament despite the UK no longer being part of the EU.
The vote was carried by Sinn Féin chair of the committee, John Gormley, after six Sinn Féin and SDLP councillors voted for the proposal, to six DUP and UUP councillors, who voted against.
No Alliance, Green or People Before Profit councillors attended the debate.
If the matter is returned to a vote at next month’s full council meeting, the Alliance Party position will almost certainly sway the council decision.
The vote came after a presentation by Ciaran White, senior lecturer at University of Ulster, and Dr Francis Costello, who forwarded a paper entitled 'Allowing Northern Ireland residents to vote in future EU Parliamentary Elections'.
The paper aims to assuage criticisms, particularly from some unionists, that the current trade deal means Northern Ireland has to accept EU rules, while not being able to influence or shape them with a democratic mandate.
Mr White told the chamber: "The essence of our proposals are that Northern Ireland is given some form of representation in the European Union parliament, notwithstanding that the UK has exited the EU, by dint of the special circumstances that Northern Ireland finds itself in".
SDLP councillor Séamas de Faoite said he was "concerned that the argument around the democratic deficit is used to undermine the issues around the protocol, and in turn undermine some of the benefits that we may have, and some of the protections we might have".
UUP councillor John Kyle said a seat at the European parliament would "give democratic legitimacy to whatever the European Union wanted to do in respect to Northern Ireland, and in respect to the concerns of Unionists".
The proposal states the council "recognises the concerns about a democratic deficit in relation to the Northern Ireland protocol and its continued implementation" and agrees to write to the British and Irish governments and European Commission to propose the north be "allocated representation in the European Parliament and Committee of the Regions with voting rights limited to matters which directly relate to or govern the Northern Ireland protocol".
