County manager acknowledges failure of internal controls

There was a failure in Meath County Council's internal controls and processes when it came to dealing with cheques for the payment of levies and contributions by developers, but clearly no evidence of wrongdoing in the council's planning department, the Meath County Manager said this week. Tom Dowling said that improvements in internal controls had been identified and implemented. During a county council debate on the Mazars report, drawn up by a firm of auditors commissioned by the council to look into the handling of uncashed cheques, councillors heard the report found that there was no evidence that cheques had systematically remained uncashed for a considerable period of time. The manager put forward a robust defence of council planning staff, saying that he had continued confidence in them. They had in the past five years assessed over 12,500 planning applications, with a total fee income of €10 million, plus appeals additional information and enforcement; reviewed the county development plan, processed in excess of €120 million in development levies, developed and implemented a taking-in-charge protocol and completed over 30 local area plans and three town development plans. Furthermore, they had implemented a quarry inspection programme, centralised the administration of planning and had input into a regional planning guidelines review. The Mazars report was ordered by the county manager following a county council meeting in October when Cllr Sirena Campbell asked him a question about uncashed cheques. At their February meeting on Monday, councillors were equally robust in their criticism of what had happened in the council but many appeared to want to put the matter behind them and move on. There was criticism from councillors and staff, too, of the fact that staff at the council's Dunshaughlin office had been "unfairly criticised" over delays in cashing cheques made out to the council. The Mazars report had been forwarded to the council and forwarded to the chairman of the council's audit committee in December. The audit committee had met in December and noted the conclusions of the report which said there was no evidence of wrongdoing, no evidence of loss of money to the council, but that there was a need for improvement in internal controls. Mr Dowling told councillors on Monday it was important for him to state that the staff of the council valued their reputation and it was "grossly unfair to cast doubt on the reputations of the extremely conscientious and hard-working staff of the planning department, or indeed anybody, without solid evidence". He said: "It is impossible to quantify the damage that innuendo and suggestions can do to the morale of any organisation and I would urge the members to finish this matter for once and for all and let all of us get on with our respective responsibilities. I believe it would now be appropriate for the members to express clear and unambiguous confidence in the work of the planning department." Cllr Sirena Campbell, who was first to raise the matter last year, said she welcomed the report. She she commended the manager for taking the initiative to follow through to examine her questions about the matter in detail. While she did have concerns, a lot of these had been addressed, she said. Cllr Campbell said that it was wrong to state that she had ever impugned the reputation of any member of the council staff. She had simply asked a question, she said. She added the report had clearly stated that there was a need for improvement in the internal controls in the council. Having cheques on file without being cashed had disturbed her, she said. "I do think that it is a terrible indictment of what happened, but I welcome the report and welcome the fact that the manager said he will continue to review the situation. It should never have happened in the first place," Cllr Campbell said. Cllr Nick Killian said the report was not about laying the blame on anyone. However, it had highlighted a disconnect between the planning and finance departments of the council. He said he was concerned that one area of the council in particular - the Dunshaughlin office - had been mentioned. He knew that the staff in that office were upset about this issue. The people there felt they had been identified in some way in the whole affair and felt there weas something hanging over them, "This is not about laying blame in either planning or finance." It should be understood, he said, that the whole system of dealing with planning levies was very complex. The manager had done the right thing in calling in Mazars, he said. "That there was nothing untoward in all this is the most important thing that has come out of this," said Cllr Killian. The staff of the Dunshaughlin office had not been given a copy of the Mazars report and had not been given an opportunity to comment on it, Cllr Killian added. Cllr Brian Fitzgerald said he agreed with Cllr Killian in relation to the Dunshaughlin staff. "I think the way the report was written was fairly sloppy in relation to Dunshaughlin. The Dunshaughlin staff had not been interviewed about what was written in the report and that is very unfair." Over the last few years when development was flying, the staff of the Dunshaughlin office put 50 per cent of the revenue through their hands. I haven't heard one complaint but what is written in here (in the Mazars report) gives a different complexion. Mazars has a duty to the Dunshaughlin staff to clarify the matter," he went on. Cllr Fitzgerald said that concerns about the cheques issue had been doing the rounds for months before Cllr Campbell raised the issue. The council should have been proactive on the issue and not allowed it to fester. Cllr John Farrelly said he, too, welcomed the report. However, he did not think that any councillor would be happy that the council had an inefficient system in place. He recognised what the manager had said in relation to the huge number of planning applications going through the council in the Celtic Tiger years "but the report, in fairness, outlines a disastrous failure in dealing with its income system from the point of view of planning charges and the connection between the two departments". In all his long years dealing with the planning department, he could honestly say that he had never come across any wrongdoing, he added. "I'm glad this has been done, I'm glad it is out of the way and that we have a system in place for dealing with funds, and the staff in the planning department can hold their heads high." Cllr Regina Doherty said she was very disappointed with the language used in the report in relation to the staff of the Dunshaughlin office. The language had been very unfair. The inference was that cheques had lain in a drawer in the office. That was unfair to the staff and should not be left hanging in the air, she said. Mr Dowling denied that there was any wholesale systems failure or that there was any "disconnect" between sections of the council. He said he had the highest regard for the staff of the Dunshaughlin office and they had no reason to feel awkward in any way about this report.