Hotel purchase described as ‘highly irregular’
ALLEGATIONS made via Facebook are not usually a topic for discussion in high office, but members of Wexford County Council have shown they are au fait with modern technology if nothing else at their monthly meeting in the Council Chamber.
Following a post made on social media last month by Aontú’s Jim Codd, in which he referred to ‘alleged irregularities in the planning and development of the sites that serve as home to two local branches of state departments on Anne’s Street in Wexford town’ and claimed he was ‘virulently attacked’ for expressing his views, the by-election candidate found himself under fire from several disgruntled colleagues.
The issue in question relates back to the acquisition of land in Anne Street for the offices of the Department of Social Protection and the Revenue Commissioners in the 1990s.
An investigation into this transaction had previously been carried out in 2016 with Director of Services Tony Larkin stating at the time that he had, ‘looked to see if the Corporation had acted outside of its powers,’ and ‘found no evidence to say it did’.
However, Councillor Codd, in his persistence, brought the matter to Dáil Éireann via his party leader, Deputy Peader Tóibin.
And on November 7, Deputy Tóibin, addressing Minister for Housing, Planning and local Government, Eoghan Murphy, said ‘it is alleged that the dismantling of the title to property was done without the knowledge of the property owners.’
Deputy Tóibin also alleged that the ‘highly irregular purchase’ of the old County Hotel had caused a significant loss of space to the decentralised Revenue Office and that adjoining landowners are challenging the Council’s 2016 report.
In reply, Minister Murphy said the allegations should be referred to the Office of the Planning Regulator.
The re-emergence of this story and the way in which Cllr Codd had highlighted his concerns via Facebook led to some heated exchanges during the Council’s meeting.
Keen to ensure his name wasn’t being besmirched online, Cllr Ger Carthy was the first to challenge Cllr Codd.
‘There was an accusation made on a social media outlet that members in this Council Chamber wanted to bury the issue in relation
to Anne St,’ said Cllr Carthy. ‘I’ve no problem with setting the record straight because I have to protect my good name as well as everyone else in this chamber. These issues stem back almost
25 years to the best of my knowledge.
‘They were investigated in 2016 under Chief Executive Tom Enright and Director of Services Tony Larkin. I would have every confidence they have done their business to a very high standard. I would ask the member who put those things up on Facebook to kindly apologise and remove (the post).’
Cathaoirleach of Wexford County Council, Cllr Michael Sheehan, then reminded everyone in the chamber of their responsibilities when it comes to using social media.
‘Everyone knows you have no protection when posting stuff on social media. So if you’re using inflammatory language the consequences may be there for you. No one should feel they are being attacked or that they have the right to attack anyone,’ the Cathaoirleach warned.
In response Councillor Codd argued he had been left with no choice but to bring the matter to the Dáil, an in-camera session preventing the media from reporting on his previous submissions.
‘A number of councillors spoke against my persistence coming into this matter. They did so when the media and viewing gallery was empty, because of that I was left with very little option but to raise the matter in the Dáil. Now that the issue is raised I’d at least like to have it lodged into the minutes,’ he requested.
Director of Services, Tony Larkin, then stated that, contrary to Cllr Codd’s belief, nothing had changed since the 2016 report had been published.
‘What came in as new information is not new information it’s just a rehash of something that was there before. But I have been advised that these matters are under investigation, and we are perfectly happy to co-operate with any such investigation. Other than that I’m not sure what we can do.
‘It’s obvious the person raising the objections doesn’t agree, but we can’t be the appeals court in our own hearings. All the files will be made available to the OPW (The Office of Public Works) and the State Solicitors office,’ Mr Larkin said.
Before the matter could be brought to a satisfactory conclusion, of sorts, Fianna Fáil Councillor Lisa McDonald issued a final rebuke to Cllr Codd.
‘I don’t mean to come down on Cllr Codd because he’s new. But he is prone to do that. This is the place to defend ourselves and if you do have an issue would you kindly bring it to this forum so we can defend ourselves. We’re all grown-ups here,’ said Cllr McDonald.