County council ranks 19th in integrity study
WICKLOW GETS OVERALL SCORE OF 12 OUT OF 20, 40 PER CENT
WICKLOW County Council has been ranked joint 19th in a national integrity list of the country’s local authorities carried out by Transparency International Ireland (TI).
TI carried out research into local government in Ireland from July 2017 to February 2018. The majority of the information for the study was found on council websites while phone calls to local authority and freedom of information requests were also used. An email was sent to each council containing questions.
Wicklow ranked joint 19th out of 31 counties with an overall score of 12 out of 20. Also achieving 40 per cent were Sligo, Louth, Cavan and Mayo County Councils.
Each Local Authority was marked on Transparency, Accountability and Ethics.
Wicklow scored a total of four in the Transparency category after being rated on a number of different indicators. One of these was that council minutes from meetings weren’t provided online in a timely fashion. As of January 25, 2018, the latest meeting minutes were from May 2017. There was also no annual budget or budget commentary for 2017 available online.
Researchers also examined whether Wicklow County Council publishes online a searchable database of past and current planning applications, with complete documentation for each application. They found multiple applications in which the planning application states that pre-planning consultations took place, but there are no corresponding reports included in the file.
No written motions submitted by Councillors on development plans were found on the council’s website.
Regarding the publication of comprehensive information on Wicklow County Council’s procurement process, as of December 11, 2017, there was no online information for users or contracts awarded.
Reports on Councillor expenses and payments failed to include their attendance at meetings. Councillors donation statements weren’t found on the council website, while the Chief Executive’s diary also wasn’t published.
Wicklow County Council received a point apiece for publishing information online on the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015, including a complete list of its designated public officials; the publication of reports on councillor expenses and payments online; the publication of all purchase orders raised for goods and services over €20,000, on a quarterly basis and for placing written submissions and observations submitted by the public development plans on the local authority’s website.
The Local Authority scored six for Accountability. Scores were provided for providing confirmation of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests after two weeks and for providing a decision on FOI requests within four weeks.
Scores were also awarded for publishing a comprehensive protected disclosures policy and procedures and for publishing online the annual report on protected disclosures. Further scores were achieved for allowing the internal audit unit full operational independence and for allowing members of the public to attend monthly meetings. The council lost points for not publishing online audited financial statements, for not sharing the procedures in place to investigate alleged contraventions of Part 15 of the Local Government Act 2001 by councillors and relevant employees and for failing to publish the 2016 report online. The council was also found not to be fully responsive to requests from TI Ireland.
Wicklow County Council only achieved two scores out of eight in the Ethics cat- egory, with these points achieved for its Ethics Registrar pro-actively reviewing the completeness of ethics declarations filed in accordance with the Local Government Act 2001 and for providing online the 2016 Registers of Interests for council members, though it was noted that two declarations were missing two pages.
The remaining points were lost for a number of reasons. As of August 2, 2017, Wicklow County Council didn’t have a comprehensive upto-date page within its website dedicated to ethics and governance. The council also doesn’t maintain and publish summary data on reports received by the Ethics Registrar and Chief Executive. The council’s risk management or alert plan, addressing corruption and fraud risks is from 2005 and isn’t considered up-to-date. There also was no sign of the report online. No points were awarded for the council’s role in preventing employees from taking on certain positions in the private sector, whether during or following employment.
In response to the report, a council spokesperson said: ‘Wicklow County Council is committed to good communications and providing accurate up-to-date information to the public. In this regard, the council communicates with its customers through a variety of means, including Twitter and Facebook as well as by telephone, in person, written correspondence and through our website. The council would welcome more resources for communications, but we have to be responsible in how we manage public funds, and that means prioritising delivery of essential services.’