Omagh's Electoral Office may close due to lease difficulties

by Gráinne Connolly

It's been revealed that Omagh's Electoral Office could possibly closed by the end of December, according to Public Sector Union NIPSA. 

NIPSA, is the Trade Union that represents staff employed by the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland (EONI) and have been involved with a long running campaign to protect these services here. 

Dooley Harte, NIPSA's Higher Executive Officer explained the issues regarding the possible closure in a letter to Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, and said:

"the EONI have as yet been unable to agree an extension to the current lease for the building on Kevlin Avenue, Omagh with the current agreement due to end at the end of December." 

If the office is to close, it's likely that all staff and services will be moved to Derry-Londonderry. 

Mr Harte also said it could affect constituents living in the area if the Omagh office was to close:

"with the online services and an assembly election in the near future as a possibility, this would leave your constituents at a significant disadvantage and may seriously impact on any election result." 

This is not the first time that Omagh's Electoral Office has been under threat of closure, as it's been under the radar for the past year with the proposal to centralise services in Belfast. 

A public consultation was also completed 9 months, however the findings still haven't been published. 

In the letter to the Council, Mr Harte also called on them to pressurise the recently appointed Parliamentary Under-secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Lord Duncan and the Chief Electoral Officer Virginia McVea, "to have the necessary funds to obtain new premises in Omagh for electoral services.

"NIPSA understands that the main prohibiting factor in obtaining new premises in Omagh is the cost of funding new secure IT system and building security but this would be in the region of £12-15K". 

However, they believe this to be a small cost to continue electoral services in such a large geographical area and to ensure all constituents are treated equally. 

Q Radio also spoke to Virginia McVea the Chief Electoral Officer and she says they have been in negotiations with the landlord about extending the lease. 

However, in case they don't go ahead with the request to extend it, the EONI has been liaising with the council to ensure services continue in the town, pending the public consultation responses.