 but in January 2005 he could not win committee or council support for a proposal costing £175,000 to convert the minor hall used by the Group Theatre at the Ulster Hall into dual-purpose performance space during the refurbishment of the Hall.From 2005 he was leader of the Sinn Féin group on the City Council.His criticism of the rival Irish nationalist SDLP for meeting and 'hobnobbing' with Charles, Prince of Wales at the end of 2005 was branded as "tribal clap-trap from a man who surely knows better" by Newton Emerson in the "Daily Mirror", with Emerson noting that Maskey had been "the perfect host" when they had previously met.