Campaigners call for council resignations

Campaigners call for council resignations

7 May 2025

CALLS have been issued for Newry, Mourne and Down Council’s senior management team to resign in the wake of the National Trust’s decision not to back the gondola. 

They are being led by the Save Our Donard (SOD Off) campaign group which last month organised a public meeting in the resort to allow local people to have their say and devise a strategy going forward which included a protest march this Saturday from the Downs Road car park to Donard Park.

Declaring victory, campaigners called for the local authority’s senior management team to go and also criticised consultants involved in the controversial project.

They claim senior council officials “sought to force through” the gondola and visitor centre on Slieve Donard and had help from Sinn Fein, the DUP and SDLP who “either supported the gondola project or shamefully failed to oppose it, despite overwhelming public opposition”.

SOD Off staged a protest outside the National Trust’s office at the Murlough Nature Reserve last November, urging the conservation charity to exercise its veto and call a halt to the “gondola folly “and prevent a visitors’ centre being constructed on Slieve Donard.

The group says it is glad are glad the Trust “finally listened” to those who took part in last month’s public meeting at Newcastle Community Cinema and expressed “total opposition” to the planned flagship tourism project.

“This is a victory for local campaigners, the natural environment of the Mournes and the biodiversity of Slieve Donard,” the group declared in an online post.

“It is reported that over £1m has been spent on the project so far and this is an outrageous waste of ratepayers’ money.”

The campaigners condemned consultants and members of the integrated consultancy team for taking on the project in the first place “when they knew, or should have known, that it was not environmentally sustainable.”

Their statement continues: “They [consultants] were prepared to profit at the expense of the people and nature of the council area.

“We pay tribute to the Mourne Gateway Information Group and Friends of Donard for their work in keeping the public informed and presenting the rational arguments which finally helped to persuade the National Trust to fulfil its mission. 

“We also pay tribute to Cllr Jill Truesdale, of the Alliance Party, who was a relentless critic of the project and who fulfilled her role as a public representative with determination in the face of unjustified scorn and obstruction by some of her fellow councillors and council staff.”

Campaigners said they were also grateful for the support they received from Green Party’s Sean O’Baoill and Marc Mac Seáin, of People Before Profit, in opposing the visitors’ centre proposal.

Confirming this Saturday’s planned protest march has been cancelled, campaigners say local authority staff and councillors should be under no doubt that they will monitor how alternatives to the gondola are considered and developed.

“We will resurface as a campaign group to protect the Mournes if alternatives that damage nature are presented for implementation,” they added.

The council said it remains disappointed by the National Trust’s decision not to lease land for the Mourne Mountains Gateway Project.

“While we respect their role as custodians of the landscape, this outcome is hugely disappointing for our district,” they said.

“The Mournes Mountains Gateway Project was designed with the future of our region in mind - to stimulate sustainable tourism, through a comprehensive environmental impact assessment and visitor management plans, to create local employment and help build a resilient rural economy.”

The council added: “We are actively engaging with our City Deal partners and the Department for the Economy to explore next steps.”