SIPO probe into former Navan councillor
A Standards in Public Office (SIPO) investigation into former Meath County Council Cathaoirleach, Tommy Reilly, which started in Dublin today follows a complaint regarding a conflict of interest over land owned by his son.
The investigation, which continues on Monday, is examining “alleged contraventions of the Local Government Act 2001 and the Code of Conduct for Councillors" by the former councillor, who was also a former Mayor of Navan.
Cllr Reilly lost his seat in the local elections last year after 27 years as a Fianna Fáil councillor.
The SIPO Commission, chaired by Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan, is investigating Mr Reilly’s involvement in the rezoning of a 35-acre site in Liscarton, Navan. The land, owned by his son, saw its value rise from €500,000 to €4.2m after it was rezoned in 2017.
Outlining the case, Mr Mark Curran, BL for the Commission said Mr Reilly attended Navan Municipal meetings meeting in July 2016 and March 2017 and a County Council meeting in May 2017 at which updates were given on a proposed variation of the county development plan.
At a special meeting of Navan Municipal Council on 19th July 2017 the land at Liscarton was rezoned in a variation of the county development plan, but Mr Reilly had excused himself stating conflict of interest but failed to disclose what that conflict was. He then updated the register of interest in 2020 to include his sons ownership of the land.
Mr Curran said a company called Royal Active Building Solutions was incorporated in August 2017 and in December 2017, Kieran Reilly and Barry Alder were directors. That changed in December 2018 when Mr Alder was no longer a director but the directors were Kieran Reilly and Tomás Reilly, Tommy Reilly's sons.
Mr Reilly attended a pre-planning meeting on 29th March 2019 with his son Kieran Reilly and consultant Eamon Collins. He was listed as an applicant, but said he had attended as a county councillor. Mr Collins later said that was an error.
Former Meath County Council chief executive, Jackie Maguire told the Commission a complaint about Mr Reilly had been referred to her and to Cllr David Gilroy, who was Cathaoirleach of the council at the time.
She said the council investigated the report and had invited Mr Reilly to a meeting in October 2020 which was attended by herself, Tommy Reilly, Cllr Gilroy and Mr Collins. She said Mr Reilly told her that he had only become aware of his sons' ownership of the land two weeks before the July 2017 meeting at which the vote on rezoning took place. He had absented himself from that meeting.
At the meeting with Ms Maguire and Cllr Gilroy, Mr Reilly told her he had no personal interest in the land, that his son was 46 years old and had a lot of business interests.
She said that while Mr Reilly had excused himself from the vote which reclassified the land, he "inadvertently" broke ethical rules by not "updating his register of interests".
Ms Maguire said she felt greater training should be given to councillors regarding the register of interests as it can be confusing, but the onus was on the individual councillor to make the declarations.
She had accepted Mr Reilly had no knowledge of his sons' involvement in the land until two weeks before.
She said Mr Reilly had attended the pre planning meeting as a councillor, which was unwise because his son was the applicant. It was not unusual for a councillor to attend pre planning meetings which was where applicants seek information before a planning application is made. No lobbying takes place at these meetings.
She said Tommy Reilly had initially been listed as the applicant by Mr Collins, but Mr Collins subsequently wrote to the council to explain it was his error and that Tommy Reilly was not the applicant and had attended as a councillor.
She said that requests made by Cllr Reilly at meetings of Navan Municipal Council in 2015 looking for updates on land at Liscarton referred to Cowplot at Liscarton which the council intended at the time to give to local community groups and had nothing to to with Royal Active Building Solutions (RABS) or the lands that were part of the enquiry.
Eamon Curran told the hearing that he had attended the pre planning meeting with Kieran Reilly and Tommy Reilly. He said it was a mistake in his office that listed Tommy Reilly as the applicant and he had written to the council to clarify that. He didn't think Tommy Reilly said anything at all at that meeting.
The investigation resumes on Monday.