Dublin city manager considers public office standards ruling appeal

Dublin city manager Owen Keegan may appeal a High Court decision which upheld a ruling by the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo) against Lord Mayor of Dublin Oisín Quinn.

Mr Keegan said he would not be giving any advice to councillors in future as a result of the court’s decision.

The commission had found Mr Quinn inadvertently committed minor breaches of ethics legislation by voting on maximum heights for buildings in the city, because of his ownership of an office premises on Lower Mount Street. Mr Quinn had been advised by Dublin City Council officials that he did not need to absent himself but the commission disagreed.

The council has spent some €100,000 on the High Court case. An appeal would cost €35,000 but if the council did not appeal and costs were awarded against it the total could reach €200,000, Mr Keegan said.

Mr Justice John Hedigan last month ruled the council had no legal standing to bring the court action as it was not a party to the commission's inquiry. He also found the commission's finding was eminently reasonable, fair and involved a rational appraisal of the perception of the matter based on an agreed factual background.

'Acted in good faith'
However, he noted the commission had exonerated Mr Quinn from any impropriety and had said the contraventions of ethics legislation were inadvertent, minor in nature and that he had acted in good faith.

Mr Quinn last night excused himself from the monthly meeting of the council as the matter was discussed.

Mr Keegan said the council had taken the case because of the “genuine concern” of the potential implications of the commission’s finding for any councillor who owned property or had a connection to someone who owned property.

“Sipo refused to clarify and gave no reasons for their findings,” he said. “What’s absolutely certain is that any member who asks my advice, or the law agent’s advice in the future – you’re on your own.”

He said he had received legal advice that the court’s decision was “wrong” and he would be considering over the coming weeks whether to appeal.