Northern Ireland

Causeway councillor Padraig McShane to step down on medical advice

Causeway Coast and Glens councillor Padraig McShane
Causeway Coast and Glens councillor Padraig McShane

A councillor who raised concerns about potentially unlawful land deals involving a local authority is stepping down from politics on medical advice.

Causeway Coast and Glens councillor Padraig McShane said he was recently given "deeply concerning medical advice" that he should give up his role as a public representative.

A councillor for 16 years, he was first elected to Moyle District Council in 2007 as a Sinn Féin candidate and remained as an independent representative after leaving the party in May 2010.

He continued to represent the Glens ward in the new Causeway Coast authority after it incorporated the old authority in 2015.

He previously stood down as a councillor in May 2019 but was co-opted again in October that year.

The long-serving representative is currently suspended from the council for two months after the Local Government Commissioner for Standards found against him over a complaint dating back to an incident at an Orange Order parade in Ballycastle, Co Antrim, in 2016.

In November 2016 he was suspended for three months after he and several visiting councillors were pictured with a tricolour and Palestinian flag in the Causeway Coast and Glens council chamber.

In recent years Mr McShane has been to the fore in raising serious concerns relating to Causeway Coast and Glens council.

Just last month he urged the Department for Communities (DfC) to “step in and take control” at the council after a scathing review found that "leadership is lacking at CEO and senior executive level".

A second review into land and property-related policies also raised significant questions about those in leadership roles.

The comments came after a damning extraordinary audit by the Northern Ireland Audit Office last year, which had been ordered by DfC. 


The audit concluded there was a case for finding that two deals agreed by the unionist-dominated council "had not been granted lawfully" and identified a culture of "bypassing best practice" in the authority's transacting of land disposals and easements.


It made eight recommendations, including for a council-wide review of governance arrangements.


Mr McShane and TUV leader Jim Allister had separately asked the audit office to examine the council's role in land deals.

Mr McShane has claimed that since 2017 Causeway Coast and Glens council has been the focus of at least 11 reviews and investigations, including legal action taken by Mr Allister.

In stepping down from the council Mr McShane was critical of the council's approach towards whistleblowers.

Mr McShane claimed that the council has failed "in its overarching positive obligations as set out in the European Convention (on Human Rights)" in respect of various issues affecting him and regarding his well-being.

He revealed that he has recently "received profound and deeply concerning medical advice that I should step down from my role as a councillor".

Mr McShane added that his well-being has been impacted by his work.

"I still have significant work to do before concluding the tasks I’ve undertaken but I will continue them from the safety afforded outside the organisation," he said.

"I will continue to use the Judicial system to conclude these matters."

Causeway Coast and Glens council was contacted.