De Burca calls on Fianna Fail to conduct internal investigation of official complaint concerning Wicklow councillor's conflict of interest

The Green Party councillor has made a formal complaint to the Ethics Registrar of Wicklow County Council, Mr Tom Murphy, and has been informed that the council is currently investigating the matter. However, she has called on the Fianna Fail party to conduct its own internal investigation into the complaint. "The Fianna Fail Party has been mired in allegations of planning and zoning scandals over the past decade and the tribunals have established the validity of some of these allegations" she says."It is not good enough now for the party to turn a blind eye to what is a very serious situation that has developed in relation to one of its newly elected councillors in Wicklow" she says.

According to the Green Party councillor, the complaint that she has made concerning Cllr Whittle is a very serious one and involves what she believes may be a very serious undeclared conflict of interest on his part in relation to a rezoning motion that he proposed at a marathon meeting of Wicklow County on July 12^th this year. Councillor Whittle proposed the rezoning of a land at Ballylusk, Ashford to extend an existing quarry and to develop an enterprise park at the site. The substance of the Green Party councillor's complaint is that Councillor Whittle is the Principal of a Solicitor's firm, Haughton Mc Carrolls, that acts for the landowner of the quarry, which has been the subject of legal action. She also states that Councillor Fachtna Whittle's firm has sought leave, on behalf of the landowner of the quarry, to judicially review the 2003 decision of an Bord Pleanala which held that activities at the quarry were unauthorised. She points out that his firm's name is still on record with the High Court in relation to this judicial review case, which is pending.

"The matter seems very straightforward to my mind" she says. "By proposing this rezoning motion for the quarry without declaring his professional involvement with the landowner, Councillor Whittle secured a narrow majority of 10 votes in favour of the rezoning, with 9 votes against" she says. "If Councillor Whittle had declared his professional interest in the matter and absented himself from the meeting at that point, it is likely that the motion would not have been passed. However, by facilitating the rezoning motion to be passed, Councillor Whittle has materially undermined both an Bord Pleanala 's ruling in relation to the quarry and the potential outcome of the case which, by virtue of the rezoning, has been rendered null and void. This is a serious matter indeed and flies in the face of any basic precepts of natural justice".

The Green councillor claims that Part 15, Section 177 of the Local Government Act 2001, states that elected members of local authorities must disclose a pecuniary or other 'beneficial interest' of which they have 'actual knowledge', that they, or a connected person has, in a matter which arises at a meeting of the local authority, and take no part in the discussion or consideration of the matter. She adds that Section 176 (b) of the Act defines a 'beneficial interest' as including an interest in respect of which the elected member, or a connected person, is in a partnership with, or is in the employment of, a person who has a beneficial interest in, or which is material to, any such matter. She says she believes this clause applies directly to Cllr Whittle's proposed rezoning of Ballylusk quarry and she claims that where a person is convicted under the relvant sections of Part 15 of the Local Government Act, that person is disqualified from being elected or co-opted to, or from being a member of a local authority.

Councillor de Burca believes that the Fianna Fail party now has an obligation to carry out its own internal investigation into the matter, in order to reassure the public that its own Code of Conduct for elected representatives is being effectively monitored and implemented. "If the Fianna Fail Party adopts the rather predictable 'Wait and See' policy, it will only reinforce the deep public cycnicism about the party's intentions to clean up its act and raise the ethical standards expected of its public representatives" says de Burca. "I am calling on the Fianna Fail party to immediately initiate its own internal investigation into the matter. The integrity of our political system requires that all political parties are vigilant about responding to alleged breaches of ethics in their own parties".

For further information please contact:

Deirdre de Burca on 086-806 1450; email: deburca@wicklowgreens.org