Rezoning vote may have breached ethics

It looks like Killarney may be having second thoughts about their rezoning, it may breach ethics guidelines:

The ethics registrar for local authorities in Kerry, John Flynn, has written to the Killarney town manager and mayor informing them of “a possible contravention” of the Local Government Act in relation to recent rezoning of land around the Gleneagle Hotel.

Fianna Fail mayor Cllr Tom Doherty confirmed yesterday he had received the letter relating to FF councillor Patrick O’Donoghue, managing director of the Gleneagle Group and a Failte Ireland director, and Fine Gael councillor Sheila Casey, an employee of the Gleneagle Group.

He said he was unsure of the exact procedure to be followed but would be consulting the Local Government Act and other relevant legislation as well as town council officials.

At the March monthly meeting, councillors voted by a majority to rezone the Gleneagle lands to town centre use against the advice of planners who warned it would change the whole balance of the town and fly in the face of existing plans. Just two councillors voted against the rezoning and the mayor abstained.

Cllr O’Donoghue declared his interest in the matter and abstained from discussion and from the votes on the motion to rezone his family lands. However, he remained at his seat in the council chamber throughout.

One councillor told the meeting he had been invited to a meeting by Cllr O’Donoghue in the latter’s “capacity as manager of the complex” to discuss the issue.

Cllr Casey was one of five councillors to sign the rezoning motion and she voted in favour of it. Under the Local Government Act 2001, councillors are obliged to disclose the nature of an interest, and to withdraw altogether from a meeting during the discussion. They are also asked to refrain from seeking to influence a decision which is of benefit to them.

The Code of Conduct for Councillors, issued in June 2004 to supplement the Act, says councillors should be especially careful of conflict of interest in planning matters.

It says the test to be applied by a councillor in a possible conflict of interest is whether a member of the public “would reasonably think that the interest concerned might influence the person in the performance of his or her functions”. It adds: “It is important to ensure as well as the avoidance of actual impropriety, occasions for suspicion and appearance of improper conduct are also avoided in case of private or personal interests.”

The manager and mayor of Killarney will have to decide if an investigation is to take place. Breach of the ethics legislation can result in disciplinary action, prosecution in the courts and, on conviction, fines of €1,500 and disqualification from the council.

Ahern associates to give evidence

Paul Cullen tells us that:

Two of the Taoiseach’s long-time associates are to give evidence in a new module of the planning tribunal to start today.

Robert White, who went to school with Bertie Ahern, and Tim Collins, one of the trustees of his Drumcondra office, are scheduled to give evidence about a planning issue in Swords.

Former Government press secretary Frank Dunlop alleges Mr White paid him £5,000 to lobby county councillors for the construction of a hotel on the land.

Mr Dunlop claims he gave Fianna Fail county councillor Cyril Gallagher £2,000 in the Grand Hotel in Malahide in the early 1990s for his support.

He says Mr White told him he had discussed the matter with Mr Gallagher and local TD GV Wright. Mr White and Mr Wright deny any impropriety, while Mr Gallagher died in 2000.

The land was owned by the Duff family but Mr White, a jeweller and property developer, represented a consortium, Nosaka Ltd, formed to develop the hotel.

Cross-examination of Mr Dunlop on the Ballycullen rezoning in south Dublin is due to finish today, bringing that module to a close. In the afternoon, he will give evidence in the new module on the Duff lands.

Mr White was involved in a controversial attempt to build a casino and conference centre on the disused Phoenix Park racecourse in the mid-1990s. An Bord Pleanala gave the £375 million project the go-ahead but it foundered when politicians refused to sanction a casino licence. Having bought the site in 1993 for £10 million, Mr Turner and his business partner sold it in 1998 for £35 million to a firm of housebuilders.

In 2000, another associate of Mr Ahern’s, Des Richardson, said he had been approached by a director of the project – understood to be Mr White – to ask Liam Lawlor to act as a consultant. At the time, Mr Lawlor claimed he had been offered £100,000 to lobby for the project.

Mr Collins’ involvement in the Duff lands is unclear, but he has acted as an intermediary between Mr Dunlop and developers in other developments.

Separately, the tribunal is investigating the acquisition by the State of the Battle of the Boyne site in Co Meath from a company in which Mr Collins was involved. In 2000, the OPW paid £9.4 million for the site acquired by Mr Collins and his partners for £3.43 million three years earlier. Mr Collins was also present at a meeting between the Taoiseach and developer Tom Gilmartin in 1988.

The Duff module is expected to last just a few days.

50 councillors to give tribunal evidence

It was that long ago, but some might remember why the Planning Tribunal was established. The next module relates directly to why Michael Smith and Colm MacEochaidh offered a £10,000 reward for information on alleged planning corruption.

After Easter, the tribunal plans to start new hearings into the rezoning of Monarch Properties’ lands at Cherrywood for housing and industrial uses in the early 1990s. The change, which was fiercely contested by local residents, was regarded as the most controversial rezoning to go through Dublin County Council, after Quarryvale.

It was concern over this rezoning that prompted a local barrister, Michael Smith, and a colleague, Colm MacEochaidh, to offer a £10,000 reward for information on alleged planning corruption.

This initiative led indirectly to the setting up of the tribunal.

Monarch has told the tribunal it lobbied virtually every member of the council and made political donations to more than half its 78 members. The politicians are expected to say the contributions were for election expenses and did not influence their vote.

Former government press secretary Frank Dunlop, who was also employed by the company to lobby councillors, says he was paid £25,000 for his work. He alleges he paid £2,000 each to Fianna Fail councillors Tony Fox and Colm McGrath to support the rezoning motion; the two men deny this claim.

The new module is expected to reveal further examples of “amnesia” over political donations by Fianna Fail and Fine Gael politicians, only 11 of whom disclosed contributions from Monarch to their respective party inquiries in 2000.

Senator Don Lydon has already admitted to the tribunal he failed to disclose a £2,500 donation from Monarch in 1992.

…

The tribunal is also investigating Mr Monahan’s success in getting urban renewal status for The Square in Tallaght in the late 1980s. This decision, taken by former minister for the environment Padraig Flynn, turned the Dundalk-born former mechanic into a multi-millionaire. Mr Monahan died in 2003.

FoI needs more scope – O'Reilly

Emily O’Reilly is asking that the scope of the Freedom of Information Act should be widened to include bodies like the Gardai, the Central Bank, the Financial Regulator and the CAO.

Emily O’Reilly also told the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service yesterday that more public bodies, including An Garda Sa­ochana, should be brought under the scope of the Freedom of Information Act (FoI).

She said that while the Minister for Finance had announced that 109 additional bodies were being brought within the legislation, a significant number of others would continue to remain outside its provisions.

Ms O’Reilly said she was concerned that Mr Cowen’s announcement last October “may be seen as some kind of final round-up and that further extensions may not be planned for some time, if at all”.

The Information Commissioner said that Judge Maureen Harding Clark, in her recent report on Lourdes hospital, had recommended that the Department of Health introduce legislation to protect clinical governance records and risk-management clinical incident report forms from the application of the FoI Act.

She said this recommendation was based on the view that unless these documents were protected from the legislation, they were unlikely to be created, and opportunities for learning from mistakes would be lost.

“I find that I cannot agree with this recommendation as I believe the exemptions in the FoI Act are sufficient to protect what is, I agree, a very important public interest,” she said.

Ms O’Reilly said that although 109 additional bodies were due to come under the scope of the Act, she could see no reason for the continued omission from FoI of bodies such as vocational education committees, the Central Applications Office, the State Examinations Committee, the Adoption Board, An Garda Sa­ochana, bodies dealing with asylum applicants, the Central Bank, the Financial Services Authority and the State Claims Agency.

She said that under FoI legislation in Britain, police were covered on the same basis as all other public bodies.

The secretary general (public service management and development) of the Department of Finance, Eddie Sullivan, told the committee that a culture of secrecy was not something that he recognised in the modern Irish public service.

Joan Burton TD noted that Mr.Sullivan must be joking. I am inclined to agree. Secrecy appears endemic to me at least.

Cyril Gallagher's counsel denies bribery allegation

Frank Dunlop alleges that he gave north Dublin counsellor Cyril Gallagher (deceased), £18,000 between 1991 and 1993 in return for rezonings around Swords. His counsel argue that there is no documentary evidence. If they were corrupt payments there is bound to be no documentary evidence, it was in cash allegedly.

Mr Montgomery said Mr Dunlop was completely wrong; Mr Gallagher had not asked for the money and it was not given. It was Mr Dunlop’s word against Mr Gallagher’s, and Mr Gallagher was dead.

Mr Dunlop said he rejected this. It was sad that Mr Gallagher was dead. He had attended his funeral. The money he gave Mr Gallagher paled into insignificance in comparison to what others got and he had made far greater allegations against councillors who were still alive.

The tribunal is investigating claims by Mr Dunlop that a landowner, Robert White, paid him £5,000 in the early 1990s to keep certain councillors “onside” for an application to build houses on agricultural land owned by the Duff family.

Mr White acknowledges paying Mr Dunlop £2,500 by cheque for public relations work but denies asking the lobbyist to influence councillors.

Yesterday, it emerged that Mr Dunlop alleges he paid Mr Gallagher a total of £18,000 between 1991 and 1993 in return for his support for various rezonings.

He said Mr Gallagher knew Swords like the back of his hand and had a good idea of what could be done and what could not in planning terms.

Gallagher noted before he died:

Mr Gallagher, who died in March 2000, said in a statement to the tribunal the previous year that the most he ever received from Mr Dunlop was £300 in election support or contributions and added that was if he did get it.

Arab sent BMW in thanks to Dr John O'Connell

O’Connell got the car, and gave it right back, apparently. Keena notes an interesting relationship between Fustok and Haughey. I have highlighted another interesting bit.

A wealthy Arab sent a “top of the range” BMW to former minister Dr John O’Connell, who had sponsored successful Irish passport applications for a number of the man’s associates, it emerged at a hearing of the Moriarty Tribunal in Dublin yesterday.

Dr O’Connell told the tribunal he sent the car back to the late Mahmoud Fustok two days after receiving it in 1980. He said he had only once taken a political donation during his political career. That was £200 he took from businessman Pat Quinn, who was trying to give him £2,000.

…

He said Mr Fustok was a son-in-law of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, the former crown prince. On Christmas Day, 1979, he had met Dr Mahmoud Barbir at a house in Dublin. Dr Barbir was studying medicine in Dublin.

A number of Lebanese Palestinians who had fled Lebanon during the civil war there were living in Dublin and being assisted by Dr Barbir, Dr O’Connell said, and he was asked to help.

In 1980, he sponsored an application for citizenship on residency grounds for four of these people. A form shown to the tribunal showed Dr O’Connell had signed the document stating he had known the men for seven years. He said this had not been the case. He subsequently sponsored a number of other, related applications. All of the people were related to or connected with Mr Fustok.

Dr O’Connell said he approached the then taoiseach, Charles Haughey, about the original four applicants being given citizenship on humanitarian grounds. A letter from Dr O’Connell to Mr Haughey, dated July 1980, stated that Dr O’Connell had “befriended” the four applicants soon after they had arrived in Dublin in the mid-1970s. “That’s not correct. It was 1979,” Dr O’Connell said.

Dr O’Connell said he may have had contact 12 to 16 times with Mr Haughey in relation to the matter.

Dr O’Connell said he first become friendly with Mr Haughey when they had discussed an article by journalist Bruce Arnold which, Dr O’Connell said, Mr Haughey had said “as much as said I had my hands in the till”.

Dr O’Connell said he knew Mr Arnold and he had arranged a lunch attended by him and Mr Haughey. He said his relationship with Mr Haughey was a “peculiar kind of relationship”, adding: “I looked upon him as a friend. He looked upon me maybe as someone who suits his purpose. I don’t know. I did persuade him, finally, that he should retire. I have to say that I succeeded in that respect.”

He said Mr Fustok had suggested to Mr Haughey that crown prince Abdullah should be invited to Ireland. However, Mr Fustok had fallen out with Mr Haughey after he failed to invite him to his talks. During the visit, the crown prince had made representations to Mr Haughey’s secretary about the naturalisation of a Mustapha El-Imad. Mr El-Imad had since died, Dr O’Connell said.

Haughey received £50,000 from Fustok, when O’Connell effectively acted as the ‘bagman’. It is noted that Fustok may have also bought a horse from Haughey, as well as buying shares in another horse because he may have felt ‘he had to’. The obvious question was asked by Counsel for the Tribunal:

Mr Healy asked if it had ever crossed Dr O’Connell’s mind that the payment to Mr Haughey could have been connected with the citizenship applications.

“You could be influenced by reading about the other funds [received by Mr Haughey] but I am not judgmental and you could give him the benefit of the doubt,” Dr O’Connell said. “It did cross my mind.”

What a logical leap it is to suggest that Haughey may have given passports in return for money.

Appleby's team is too small to catch big fish

In last week’s Irish Times, Colm Keena argued that the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) is being starved of resources, and has been effectively reduced to something that is far removed from the strong language of it’s title.

The most striking aspect of all of this is how long it has taken for any cases to come to court in relation to the Ansbacher scandal, and how relatively minor are the (civil) punishments at issue.

The point applies to the NIB and DIRT scandals as much as to the Ansbacher one. No-one ever goes to jail for corporate offences in Ireland.

Perhaps all criminals giving advice to children intent on following in their footsteps should say; first get a degree.

Contrast the situation here with the US, where WorldCom’s Bernard Ebbers is in jail and the Enron trial is currently under way. In the US millionaires sometimes walk out of court in chains.

The point is made in a general way and is not meant to imply anything concerning Mr Collery or Mr McCann.

It may be a cultural thing, but a greater factor is no doubt one of scale. New York State Attorney General Elliot Spritzer probably has 10 times or more lawyers than Paul Appleby has staff. Mr Appleby’s office has some 37 to 40 employees and an annual budget of €4 million. He sought 20 more staff a year ago but has not yet been granted this by the Government.

He concludes:

After he’s paid his staff and dealt with the ordinary cases that flow into his office, how much discretionary spending does he have? Probably very little. Already his office, though getting through increasing amounts of work, is nevertheless seeing an increasing backlog of cases to be dealt with.

In such a scenario there is a danger that the only ones who will be held to account in terms of corporate law, will be smaller and middle-range individuals and businesses. The ODCE may simply not be equipped with the expertise and resources necessary to take on a multimillionaire or billionaire entrepreneur, not to mention an Irish or foreign multinational with Irish registered companies. And then there is the issue of IFSC or financial services companies generally, with billions swishing back and forth between Ireland, the Cayman Islands and God knows where else.

The combination of huge incentives and scant likelihood of being brought to book is a dangerous cocktail.

The docile Irish

On the 7th February last, I published an email written by Irish actor Brendan Gleeson describing the horrific conditions his parents had to endure in an Irish hospital. On last Friday’s Late Late Show he again spoke about the matter and because it was live, it was possible to see and feel his deep anger and hurt. Here’s what he had to say;

‘There are people here whose parents are going to die in disgusting circumstances. The only reason people aren’t burning the offices of the health board is because the staff are keeping the people, in as much as they can, in some sort of human situation, but this is absolutely disgusting. John O’Shea of GOAL should come into Ireland and we’ll give him some charity money and let him sort out what we are doing to our old people.

Now I’d like to ask, if they don’t sort this thing in three to six months, anybody who votes for this crowd to get back in next time, might as well shoot themselves. I’ll be honest with you; I don’t think much of the other crowd either. There’s no point in being negative and funny about it, this is really really upsetting.

Do you know what it’s like if your going to vote for this crowd at the moment, this is the way I feel about it – That if somebody came in and started punching your mother and father around the room and you went up and patted them on the back and said “sure I know you must be upset’. It is disgusting that we are allowing people to die when we have billions, a baboon could sort this bloody thing out.

The professor Drumm’s and the Mary Harney’s and all this shower and…you know what’s on the oncology department wall – Michael Martin’s name on a plaque, an oncology department where my mother in law was dying, where they were people on chairs with grieving people, there were people trying to fight for life and cling on to hope beside people who were dead – and this moron’s name is on a plaque, when he screwed the place from the time he went in to the time he left – what the bloody hell is going on?

You can watch the whole clip here.

At the end of my post last February, I asked the question – ‘Why are the Irish people so docile and politically ignorant? I would like to rephrase that. The Irish people are docile because they are politically ignorant.

It is only when an individual or political party emerges that can educate the Irish people in how to get angry that we will begin to see an end to the corruption, incompetence and arrogance that has blighted our country for decades.