ReportS from county or city managers that there was no problem with double-jobbing by their officials, without the managers having looked into it, would get short shrift from the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey warned yesterday.
Speaking yesterday after 22 of the 38 managers had submitted their reports to his Department, he said he would be "very disappointed if any of them took it as a pro-forma exercise" instead of carrying out a proper investigation.
"I would not expect a manager just to write back to me and say that everything is all right down here without having checked it. And I think all of them have checked it to my knowledge," the Minister said. "I think they took it seriously."
Merely asking officials if they were aware of the prohibition on double-jobbing in the 1984 Local Government Regulations and if they were abiding by it "would not be very thorough: I would expect that it would be more than just a general question."
Wexford County Council said yesterday that a member of its staff had been found during recent investigations to be involved in private practice. The official, who is not a professional officer and does not work in the planning section, was involved in drawing house extension plans for planning applications to Wexford Corporation.
The person was the only member of staff found to be engaged in work incompatible with public duties during inquiries carried out by the manager, Mr Seamus Dooley. A council spokesman said the official had not been disciplined as the breach was considered "relatively minor" and it related to applications submitted to an adjoining local authority. The person had signed a declaration undertaking not to engage in such work in future.
Mr Dempsey would not comment on individual cases, such as those in Kerry, but said he could see no reason why they would not be published after he had read and considered them all collectively - perhaps with names deleted. He expects to receive the remaining reports today or tomorrow, in compliance with the three-month deadline set by a January 4th circular from his Department.
Asked about his investigation, the Tipperary South manager, Mr Ned Gleeson, said he had reported that "no evidence has been established that officers are currently involved in private activities which are incompatible with their respective duties".
The Carlow county secretary, Mr Jim Kearney, said that "no member of staff was discovered to be currently involved in private activities". Waterford Corporation said it had found no evidence of staff working for private clients so any question of disciplinary action did not apply.
Kilkenny County Council, however, declined to answer specific questions on the outcome of its inquiries. It said the county manager, Mr Paddy Donnelly, had forwarded his report to the Minister yesterday.
An allegation that employees of Limerick County Council were doing planning application "nixers" was malicious, the council said yesterday. The deputy county manager, Mr Paddy O'Connor, said the allegation, made in February, had been investigated and he was satisfied the integrity of the planning system had not been compromised.
Limerick's city manager, Mr Brendan Keating, said he was satisfied no corporation official had been involved in activities which would involve a conflict of interest.