This tactic always works with councillors in Northern Ireland and, true to form, they took flight like a flock of crows at the sight of a farmer's 12-bore.
Not one councillor is reported as asking for any sight of the legal advice or of the correspondence which requested it. This was all the more unusual given the mix of legislation mentioned and the refusal to allow councillors time for any thought or consideration.
Even to a layman like me a few things are clear. Before the introduction of the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) and the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) it was impossible for a member of the public to extract even minor information from Larne Council on any controversial topic.
Although under the Local Government Act councillors have access to any information they might need while acting for ratepayers in the public interest (and both the late Cllr. Mason and myself, during my time on the Council, used this to good effect), most councillors choose not to tell the public anything of substance.
Consequently both FOI and EIR were a breath of fresh air, with the following extract from a guide to FOI explaining the public's right of access to information.
RIGHT
'The Freedom of Information Act gives you a wide-ranging right to see all kinds of information held by the government and public authorities.
'You can use the Act to find out about a problem affecting your community and to check whether an authority is doing enough to deal with it; to see how effective a policy has been; to find out about the authority's spending; to check whether an authority is doing what it says it is and to learn more about the real reasons for decisions.
'Authorities will only be able to withhold information if an exemption in the Act allows themto.
'Even exempt information may have to be disclosed in the public interest.'
Early requests to Larne Council were very productive, leading to, amongst other things, the exposure of the then Cllr. Cunning's involvement in an £80,000 Council waste disposal contract. Mr Cunning was subsequently successfully prosecuted by the Department for illegal waste tipping.
More recent requests are a different matter. My own request in relation to the fabled 'Multi Sports Stadium' and the Tesco deal revealed nothing of what I had asked for and consisted of the usual Larne 'non-minutes'.
The efforts of the Glenarm Committee to obtain information on the 'preferred developer' appointment process is said to have been like 'pulling teeth'.
Some months after FOI became law, the Acting Chief Executive (ACE) told councillors that the long established practice of tape-recording council minutes would now be subject to access by members of the public. Astonishingly, Alliance members led the charge to stop taping!
After many requests for a copy of this 'last tape', bizarrely I was sent a totally inaudible copy, which had been copied by 'experts in this field'.
The ACE, Trevor Clarke, in a letter to me dated December 19, 2005, pointed out that, "Council has agreed to accept a new format of minutes recording decisions only" and thus councillors killed off any verifiable way to access their decision making process.
I believe this and other actions were in direct defiance of FOI and EIR.
The Chief Executive, Mrs.McGahey, is reported to have recommended that, "an urgent and open review of information management should be undertaken, in confidence, by an appropriately qualified person".
Although there already seems to be a contradiction in this statement, I will be writing to the CE with a request that I am advised of the terms of reference of the investigation and that I may make a submission to the investigator.
Interestingly, the secretive Aldermans' Committee, the 'Star Chamber' of Larne Council, voted not to allow the Staff Commission to hear evidence from me in the course of their recent inquiry into Larne Council.
BAREFACED
As an incidental, I can't but smile at the barefaced cheek of former Councillor Tommy Robinson's intervention in favour of a full investigation into the workings of Larne Council. When a Larne UUP councillor, Mr. Robinson was Roy Beggs' supporter in the so-called 'fabricated minute' affair where a Council minute appeared in support of the Liddle brothers' plans to develop the promenade.
Messrs. Beggs and Robinson, who had proposed and seconded the motion detailed in the minute, insisted, in company with the then ACE Trevor Clarke, that the document was accurate. However, when I eventually was able to listen to the tape of the debate, and to read the transcript, it seems that the minute had, in fact, been far from accurate in recording a decision that had never been taken. This was explained as a 'mistake' and no further investigation was permitted.
I would be glad to include this and other incidents in Mr. Robinson's proposed investigation.
All such accountability has now gone, with the suspension of the taping of minutes ... thanks Alliance members!
Our MP, Sammy Wilson, is currently using his position to speak directly to the civil servant who heads up the Planning Service, funnily enough in connection, not only with the Freedom of Information Act, but also, in support of the Liddle brothers. The difference in this instance is that Sammy wants the report on the viability or otherwise of the Liddles' plans to build over our Promenade to be withheld from the public by being specially exempted from FOI.
This is mighty unusual because Sammy Wilson is claiming that it would be unfair if the Liddles' 'competitors' were to find out what was in this report (which the public paid for).
But hold on ... didn't Larne Council select the Liddles following a competitive tender? And doesn't that mean that there isn't any competition any more ... Sammy?
sanctimonious
Finally, a word about the cynical and sanctimonious remarks made about the late Councillor Mason.
How dare these Councillors suggest that RLM's reputation be preserved by not connecting him to 'leaks' from the Council.
Robert fought to expose skulduggery and cover-up within Larne Council from the Building Control scandal in the 1990s right up to his untimely death last year. He soldiered on in the face of insult and threats from his so-called colleagues on the Council on the principle that the public have a right to know how they are governed.
The treatment dished out to him by some councillors and officers undoubtedly affected his health. He was Larne Council's one-man Freedom of Information Act long before the legislation was conceived and to hear his principles denied by councillors is plainly disgusting.

John Anderson
Ballyrickard.