Councillors at Monday night's meeting of Fermanagh District Council were united in their 'disgust' at a recent report into the decentralisation of government jobs which ignored Enniskillen as a possible site for some of the jobs.

The recent Bain Report criticised the roads and transport links to Enniskillen, and cited this as a reason why the town should not be selected for decentralisation of jobs.

However, they did acknowledge the announcement by the Department of Regional Development Minister Conor Murphy who confirmed on Friday that consultants for the Southern By-pass in Enniskillen will be appointed in the next six months.

The Sinn Féin Chairman of the Council, Thomas O'Reilly said: "It is good to see this being moved forward, particularly by a local Minister."

Turning the Bain Report, Mr O'Reilly said the Council would continue to fight to see jobs brought to the West, and added:

"Fermanagh should benefit from decentralisation, and the roads issued being moved on will leave us in a good position to get them."

The SDLP's Frank Britton called the Bain Report 'disgraceful', and claimed it would hold back the development of Fermanagh by a decade: "We are being deprived of our fair share of government jobs. And this focus on roads is wholly ridiculous."

Arlene Foster from the DUP explained that the Bain Report failed to take account of developments in technology, which actually reduced the need for roads.

She said it was a 'very shoddy report', and called for the Executive to reject it when it comes before them.

Gerry McHugh, Independent, said there was something of a contradiction in the Bain Report in that it failed to acknowledge Fermanagh's very central position with regards the West of Ireland.

He claimed 'people at the top level want to see the jobs stay in Belfast, and Fermanagh is being neglected.'

And, while he welcomed the progress on the Southern Bypass Mr McHugh suggested this did little to help improve the roads between Enniskillen and Ballygawley, and between Enniskillen and Sligo, which he said also need investment.

Tom Elliott, UUP, welcomed the Roads Investment, saying this was positive news for Fermanagh, and said he hoped the scheme will now move ahead quickly.

He further slammed the Bain Report as 'disgraceful', highlighting that Fermanagh has just over 12% of public sector jobs, while Omagh has 19%. Mr Elliott described the recommendations in the Report as 'discriminatory' and hoped the Executive would reject it.

He also indicated he would be making representations on the Bain Report as an Assembly Member when the time came.