Public Services Centre, Omagh, January 2010

Strule Arts Centre, Omagh (01), January 2010

Omagh District Council was a local council in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. It merged with

Fermanagh District Council Fermanagh District Council was a local council in Northern Ireland. It was created out of Fermanagh County Council and later merged with Omagh District Council in April 2015 under local government reorganisation to become Fermanagh and Omagh Di ...

in April 2015 under local government reorganisation to become

Fermanagh and Omagh District Council Fermanagh and Omagh District Council ( ga, Comhairle Ceantair Fhear Manach agus na hÓmaí; Ulster-Scots: ''Districk Cooncil o Fermanagh an Omey'') is a local authority in Northern Ireland and was established on 1 April 2015. It replaced Ferman ...

. Its headquarters was in the town of

Omagh Omagh (; from ga, An Ómaigh , meaning 'the virgin plain') is the county town of County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated where the rivers Drumragh and Camowen meet to form the Strule. Northern Ireland's capital city Belfast is 68 m ...

, which is the traditional county town of Tyrone. The council area was about , making it the second largest local council area in Northern Ireland (by area) with a population of just over 50,000 (25,000 of whom lived in

town). Apart from Omagh the area of the former District Council contains smaller towns including

Drumquin Drumquin (Irish: ''Droim Caoin'' (Pleasant ridge).) is a small village and townland (of 398 acres) in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It lies between Omagh and Castlederg, on the banks of the Drumquin River (Fairywater). It is situated in the ci ...

, Dromore,

Trillick Trillick () is a small village in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 2,439 people in the 2011 Census. Trillick is in the Civil Parish of Kilskeery, Barony of Omagh East. It is located within the Diocese of Clogher (both R ...

Fintona Fintona (; ), is a village and townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Its population at the 2011 Census was 1,164. Name and etymology Fintona is derived phonetically from the Irish name of the area, ''Fionntamhnach''; this is often trans ...

, Beragh,

Carrickmore Carrickmore () is a village in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated in the historic barony of Omagh East, the civil parish of Termonmaguirk and the Roman Catholic Parish of Termonmaguirc between Cookstown, Dungannon and Omagh. ...

and Sixmilecross. The council was established in 1973 and originally had 20 councillors but following a review of local government boundaries in the early 1980s, the number of councillors was increased to 21. Omagh District Council consisted of three electoral areas: Omagh Town, Mid Tyrone and West Tyrone. In the last elections in 2011 members were elected from the following political parties: 10

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...

, 3

Social Democratic and Labour Party The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) ( ga, Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre) is a social-democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Ireland ...

(SDLP), 3

Ulster Unionist Party The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule m ...

(UUP), 3 Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and 2 Independents. The election of Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Council took place annually in June.

2011 election results

2005 election results

In both the

Westminster Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative supremacy ...

and the Northern Ireland Assembly, Omagh was completely contained within the West Tyrone constituency.

Review of Public Administration

Under the Review of Public Administration (RPA), the council was due to merge with

in 2011 to form a single council for the enlarged area totalling 2829 km² and a population of 105,479. The next election was due to take place in May 2009, but on 25 April 2008,

Shaun Woodward Shaun Anthony Woodward (born 26 October 1958) is a British politician who was the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for St Helens South from 2001 to 2015. He served in the cabinet from 28 June 2007 to 11 May 2010 as Secretary of State for North ...

, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland announced that the scheduled 2009 district council elections were to be postponed until the introduction of the eleven new councils in 2011.

Population

The former council area (especially

town) has seen significant growth in the past few years, with the population rising by the most in years. Many housing estates and shopping areas have sprung up in recent times as well. ---- ''Population:'' *1982: 44,417 *1992: 46,372 *2002: 48,919 *2004: 50,082 *Population Density – 44 per km² *Home Ownership – 72% *Unemployment – 4.5% *Car Ownership (Households) – 75% *16–74 Population in Work – 56% ---- The area covered by Omagh District Council had a population of 51,536 residents according to the 2011 Northern Ireland census.

Facilities

The council owned and ran the Strule Arts Centre in Omagh town centre.

References

External links

Flavour of Tyrone
{{Authority control Politics of County Tyrone Omagh District councils of Northern Ireland, 1973–2015