Fifteen Sinn Féin and SDLP councillors face a five-year ban from Newry and Mourne Council and a £10,000 fine because they denied facilities to William Frazer, the Protestant victims' activist who had a recent verbal altercation with Fr Alec Reid.
Those who face disqualification include Sinn Féin mayor for Newry and Mourne Pat McGinn and veteran SDLP politician Frank Feely. The 15 sitting councillors - 10 from Sinn Féin, five from the SDLP - and a former Sinn Féin and an SDLP councillor must also pay a £10,809 surcharge after Alfred Knox, a local government auditor in the North upheld a discrimination case against them.
They have 14 days to appeal the decision to the High Court. If they fail in any appeal the 15 councillors, who were only elected in May, will be then disqualified from the council and all 17 will be barred from seeking election for five years.
The case goes back three years when Newry and Mourne Council denied Mr Frazer and his south Armagh victims' group, Fair (Families Acting for Innocent Relatives) use of the council's community centre at Newtownhamilton in Co Armagh.
