The Standards in Public Office Commission yesterday detailed how it found four breaches of ethics legislation in the case of Killarney councillor and hotelier Patrick O'Donoghue. Anne Lucey reports.
The breaches relate to an attempt by Mr O'Donoghue to have 20 acres of land at the Gleneagle Hotel, 1.9km from the town centre, rezoned as an urban site for development purposes. Two of the contraventions were deemed to be "serious" and two others minor and inadvertent.
The commission found a second councillor, the Mayor of Killarney, Sheila Casey (FG), also involved in the planning motion in March 2006, did not contravene either the Local Government Act, 2001 or the code of conduct for councillors. It said it was not satisfied on the evidence it had before it that Ms Casey knew that as an employee of Mr O'Donoghue's family hotels, she had a beneficial interest. However, it also pointed out the complaints to it about Ms Casey were "made on reasonable grounds".
It issued a warning to officials to "remind" councillors of the provisions of ethics legislation at the start of meetings where planning matters were on the agenda, but said ultimately it was up to councillors to comply with the ethical framework. The commission sent its report to Ms Casey and Mr O'Donoghue as well as to Killarney Town Council and to Minister for Finance Brian Cowen and Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Dick Roche.
It formed the view that "offences under the Local Government Act may have been committed by Cllr O'Donoghue and it will be referring a report on the matter, as required under the ethics legislation, to the Director of Public Prosecutions."
In the report, the commission said Cllr O'Donoghue contravened the Local Government Act and the ethics code for councillors. In the case of one of the breaches that the commission termed "serious", it said: "The commission is satisfied on the balance of probabilities, on the evidence before it, that Cllr O'Donoghue contravened Section 168 of the Local Government Act, 2001 in that he failed to maintain proper standards of conduct and concern for the public interest in his conduct as a member of Killarney council. The commission is satisfied that this contravention was committed negligently and was, in all the circumstances, a serious matter."
In a second "serious" breach of the Local Government Act, and "in disregard" of the code of conduct for councillors, the commission found he intentionally set out to influence the council.
Two breaches, including not withdrawing from the meeting where the matter was discussed, were considered minor and "inadvertent". However, it also concluded Cllr O'Donoghue "did not act in good faith" on the matter.
After a preliminary inquiry by the commission's inspector, Ms Casey and Mr O'Donoghue were called before a public meeting of the six-member body.
Yesterday, Ms Casey said she felt her good name had been restored. Cllr O'Donoghue issued a statement on Wednesday, rejecting the findings and denying he sought to influence his council colleagues. He said he acted in good faith and in an open and transparent fashion.