Sinn Féin has selected Ruaídhrí Lyttle to replace Anne Marie Fitzgerald as councillor for Mid Tyrone on Fermanagh and Omagh District Council.
In 2023, the Sunday World reported that Lyttle had dropped out of the local elections after they revealed that he had shouted abuse at police officers on a night out in 2017, including telling them he would “shoot them with a machine-gun”.
At the time, he told the Sunday World: “I apologised in court a number of years ago for my behaviour and accept fully that my actions were wrong.”
“My role in this incident remains a matter of deep regret.”
A Sinn Féin spokesperson today told the Belfast Telegraph: “Councillor Lyttle apologised for his behaviour in court a number of years ago. He accepts his actions were wrong.
“Councillor Lyttle is focused on carrying on the great work of former councillor Anne Marie Fitzgerald on Fermanagh and Omagh District Council.”
Posting on social media, Lyttle announced his co-option and said he “looks forward to the challenges ahead and to representing you all.”
MP for West Tyrone, Órfhlaith Begley, said she is “delighted to welcome our new councillor Ruaídhrí Lytlle for the Gortin and Killyclogher area of Mid Tyrone.”
Anne Marie Fitzgerald has left the council after eighteen years. She was co-opted following the tragic death of her father, Mickey McAnespie.
She is a paramedic with the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service, based in Omagh.
