A former UUP MLA has been co-opted on to a seat in Fermanagh and Omagh District Council for the second time in three years.
Rosemary Barton has been selected by the party to fill the Erne North council seat vacated by Diana Armstrong, who moved to replace former UUP leader Tom Elliott. Lord Elliott was appointed to the House of Lords earlier this year.
Ms Barton, a former schoolteacher, had served as MLA for Fermanagh and South Tyrone between 2016 and 2022.
During the Assembly Election in 2022, she lost her MLA seat after the UUP ran two candidates in the constituency, with Lord Elliott returning to frontline politics and winning a seat at the expense of his party colleague.
The loss of Ms Barton’s seat meant the UUP had no female representative at Stormont, which has now been reversed with Ms Armstrong taking up the seat.
Later that year, Ms Barton was then co-opted on to Fermanagh and Omagh District Council to fill the party’s seat for the vacant Mid Tyrone DEA.
However, the UUP candidate unexpectedly lost that council seat to the DUP’s Shirley Hawkes.
“I look forward to working with and supporting the electorate of Erne North once again and using every opportunity to help overcome the increasing daily challenges in the area,” Ms Barton said.
“While this is a rural area with an economy based around agricultural and the environment, it is also an area of great beauty so efforts to increase tourism in North Fermanagh must be to the mutual benefit of all,” she said also citing issues around “the local hospital and deteriorating roads infrastructure.”
