A Fermanagh and Omagh District Council vote to provide the Infrastructure Minister with photographic evidence of an unauthorised Easter commemoration banner has been defeated this week.

The council had previously written to the minister, John O’Dowd, seeking clarification on whether Easter banners on Department for Infrastructure property were unlawful and what action would be taken.

In response, Mr O’Dowd stated that the department was not aware of any such banners.

During a council meeting, Ulster Unionist councillor Victor Warrington informed members that he possessed a photograph showing a Sinn Féin elected representative standing beside an Easter banner attached to a DfI road sign in the Erne West area.

He proposed that the council write to the minister again and include the photographic evidence.

Sinn Féin councillors voted against the motion.

Cllr Warrington criticised the decision, saying it exposed double standards because Sinn Féin representatives had previously insisted that rules on unauthorised material must be applied consistently.

He argued that the law should be enforced equally regardless of political affiliation, and that public confidence depended on impartial enforcement.