Dear Editor,
Belfast City Council is poised to invest £105 million in new leisure facilities across Belfast including a new £20 million facility in Andersonstown and a new £10 million facility in Twinbrook.
At full council on 1st May, Sinn Féin was the only party to vote against the proposal to establish a 'not for profit' trust to manage these facilities in the future. We believe that such a trust will dilute our ability to ensure that the interests of the people who use these facilities are placed at the centre of decision making. In our view the interests of citizens must always come before any other consideration.
All the other parties, including the SDLP and the DUP voted in favour of the trust model. We believe this was a mistake and along with SIPTU, the other trade unions and our staff, we are calling on them to reverse this decision.
We believe in providing first class public services and we believe that democratically elected councillors should decide on policy and pricing, on investment and jobs, not a quango, even a not for profit one. We can and should be held accountable for the decisions we make. We should not be handing that responsibility to an unelected body that is not accountable in the same way.
As candidates canvas for the local election in Belfast, they should be asked where they stand in relation to the future of council leisure services across Belfast? We know where we stand, we stand for top class leisure facilities managed in the interest of the people who use them and our comrades who work in them.
Is Mise,
Cllr Jim Mc Veigh
Sinn Féin