Councillor hands `fraud list' to gardai

A Dublin city councillor has given the gardai a list of building contractors he alleges have been involved in fraud and negligent work practices which he claims have led to the deaths of building workers in the Republic and the UK. Mr Sean O Cionnaith, Workers' Party councillor for Dublin north west, has also given the list, with the names of five building contractors, to the City Manager, Mr John Fitzgerald.

Mr O Cionnaith said Dublin Corporation had awarded contracts to more than one of the contractors, either directly or on a sub-contractual basis, in the past five years.

The list came to him "in the past few days" from a source in which he says he has "the highest confidence". The fraud in Ireland and Britain runs into millions of pounds, he alleges.

"The social welfare fraud involves paying workers under the table and not paying worker insurance. The negligence in work practices relates to cutting corners to save money," he said.

Mr O Cionnaith held a 20-minute meeting with Det Sgt Matthew Murphy in Ballymun yesterday afternoon to discuss the allegations.

He brought his list to the attention of Dublin City Council last Tuesday night, although he did not name those on it.

Tuesday night's debate was on an emergency Labour Party motion seeking a written report about representations for planning permission in the late 1980s.

Mr O Cionnaith told The Irish Times he raised his concerns at the end of the debate as the Corporation's planning reputation was at issue.

"What came out clearly at Tuesday night's meeting was the number of questions put into the public arena about the level of corruption in the planning process. It has got to be cleaned out totally to restore credibility in it."

He said the scope for corruption had increased since the beginning of the building boom.

After the meeting with Det Sgt Murphy, Mr O Cionnaith said the gardai were "taking the allegations very seriously" and that there would be an investigation.