Key people in council inquiry not interviewed

A LOCAL Government Audit Service investigation into alleged wrongdoing by Wicklow County Council has been prevented from taking direct evidence from those who made the allegations.

The investigation in 2005, at the behest of then minister for environment Dick Roche, was prevented by its terms of reference from interviewing elected councillors and members of the public who had made complaints about the alleged destruction of a waste permit in 2003.

The issue centres around allegations that a signed waste permit was removed from a council file and replaced with an unsigned version before the original was shredded. It also concerns allegations that council staff subsequently denied the waste permit had been signed.

However, a range of people, including some councillors and the landowner involved, became aware that a signed copy of the permit did exist and had been kept on the files of the Environmental Protection Agency.

According to the papers released under the Freedom of Information Act, Fine Gael leader on the council George Jones said he “was horrified and dismayed at what he had discovered” and complained he had been misled in a way that he had never encountered in 24 years on the council.

Mr Jones and independent councillor Tommy Cullen complained to Mr Roche, who ordered the Local Government Audit Service to investigate.

However, the audit service told Mr Roche that while it was “aware of offers from elected members of Wicklow County Council to input into the process”, the provisions of the investigation “do not allow for the invitation of submissions from the public or from members of the local authority”.

The audit service also advised the minister that the Act under which the investigation was instituted allowed it “to examine the systems, procedures and practices employed by a local authority, with a view to recommending measures that could be taken to provide services in a more economical, efficient and effective manner.”

The investigating officer did have access to correspondence the complainants had sent to the council and the minister and a draft report was prepared.

However, Freedom of Information Commissioner Emily O’Reilly concluded late last year that the Department of Environment had decided not to release a formal report on its investigation.

Instead the head of the audit service wrote to Mr Roche telling him an “administrative error” occurred at the council.

Mr Roche forwarded copies of the letter to the council and to councillors, who were also told they could raise any further issues in the context of the annual accounts. Last week councillors voted 14 to five to ask current Minister for Environment John Gormley to hold a public inquiry.