Omagh District Council - Definition

Omagh district
Geography
Area: - Total - % Water	Ranked 2nd 1,130 km² ? %
Admin HQ:	Omagh
ISO 3166-2:	GB-OMH
ONS code:	95K
Demographics
Population: - Total (April 29, 2001) - Density	Ranked 16th 47,952 42 / km²
Community:	Catholic: 69.1% Protestant: 29.7
Politics
Omagh District Council http://www.omagh.gov.uk
MP:	Pat Doherty

Omagh District Council is a Local Council in County Tyrone in Northern Ireland. It has headquarters in the town of Omagh, the county town of Tyrone. The Council area is about 440 square miles, making it the second largest local council area in Northern Ireland with a population of around 48,000. Apart from Omagh the area contains smaller towns including Drumquin, Dromore, Trillick, Fintona, Beragh, Carrickmore and Sixmilecross.

The Council was established in 1973 and had 20 Councillors but following a review of local government boundaries in the early 1980's, the number of Councillors representing the district was increased to 21. Omagh District Council consists of three electoral areas, Omagh Town, Mid Tyrone and West Tyrone. In the last elections in 2001 members were elected from the following political parties: 8 Sinn Fein, 6 Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), 3 Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), 2 Independent, 1 Unionist and 1 Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). The election of Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Council takes place annually in June. The current Chairman is Councillor Sean Clarke (Sinn Fein) and the Vice Chairman is Councillor Thomas Buchanan (DUP).

The next election is due to take place in May 2005.

In both the Westminster Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly, Omagh is completely contained within the West Tyrone constituency. See Also: Local Councils in Northern Ireland