Former Mayor says he was 'tortured' by group trying to ensure he lost his seat... and had nothing to do with rezoned lands owned by son

Tommy Reilly claimed he had been "tortured since June 2019 by a certain group of political people who were trying to ensure he lost his seat."

The former Fianna Fail councillor told a Standards in Public Office (SIPO) investigation today that the group lambasted him on the internet and "dragged his name through the mud."

The SIPO Commission is investigating complaints against the former Meath County Council cathaoirleach regarding a conflict of interest over land owned by his son.

Mr Reilly told the hearing the group had succeeded. "I lost my seat, I lost my livelihood and my standing in the community. For the first time in 63 years I wasn't asked to canvass at the general election," he told the hearing.

The hearing which took place over two days, 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 Cathaoirleach of Meath County Council.

Mr 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.

Mr Reilly said he hadn't known about his son's purchase of the land until two weeks before the rezoning and he had absented himself from the meeting at which the zoning took place.

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 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 updated his register of interest in 2020 to include his son's ownership of the land.

Mr Curran said a company called Royal Active Building Solutions was incorporated in August 2017 and in December 2017, Ciaran Reilly and Barry Alder were directors. That changed in December 2018 when Mr Alder was no longer a director but the directors were Ciaran Reilly and Tomás Reilly, Tommy Reilly's sons.

Mr Reilly senior attended a pre-planning meeting on 29th March 2019 with his son Ciaran Reilly and planning 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 and Cllr Gilroy. 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.

The internal investigation by the council found that while Mr Reilly had excused himself from the vote which reclassified the land in question, he "inadvertently" broke ethical rules by not "updating his register of interests".

She said councillors and officials would have been reminded at council meetings of their obligations verbally particularly where they would have discussed planning matters. .

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 Collins told the hearing that he had attended the pre planning meeting with Ciaran 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.

Tommy Reilly told the inquiry today that he first heard of his son ’s involvement in the land at Liscarton in early July when his son came into his bedroom and asked him how he would go about making submissions on the development plan. He had asked his son why and was told he had bought land at Liscarton.

"I told him he was too late and I could have nothing to do with it."

Mr Reilly Snr said he had stood up and told the meeting on the variation of the development plan that he had a conflict of interest and had then left the meeting.

Mr Reilly said he had 30 years of experience in politics and at no stage had he seen a councillor being asked or explaining why they had a conflict of interest.

He said he had been one of 40 councillors on Meath County Council and he had never mentioned anything about the Liscarton land to the other 39 councillors.

At the meeting on 19th July no council official had asked him the reason for the declaration of conflict or why he was withdrawing from the meeting. Cllr Sarah Reilly who proposed the variation was not related to him in any way.

He said he not updated his interests in the ethics register at the time because he believed he did not have to do so as he had no interest in the land in question.

He believed that once he had declared a conflict of interest, he had fulfilled his obligations.

“I find it all very confusing”.

He said that in March 2018 his son Ciaran had asked him to accompany him to an exploratory meeting. He had gone to the meeting and "I never opened my mouth at that meeting”.

He said he had often accompanied other planning applicants to these meeting, particularly young couples. He disagreed with the former chief executive, Ms Maguire, that it had been unwise for him to have attended the meeting.

He was annoyed when he discovered his name was listed as the planning applicant after the exploratory meeting and “attacked” his son over it.

He said he had never been involved in business or worked with Ciaran, but Ciaran had worked in Mr Reilly Senior's newsagents when he was at school.

Tomás Reilly, Tommy Reilly's son said he had no shared business interests with his father. He said he doesn't talk business with his brother Ciaran. "I have no interest in business at all," he said.

Tomás Reilly said he became a director of RABS because his brother Ciaran asked him to. Ciaran had never discussed the purchase of the land with him and the first he knew that Ciaran had bought the land was when he asked him to become a director.

Tomas said he doesn't know Barry Alder, he had no discussions with Ciaran Reilly about who had been a director before and he had no discussion with his brother, his father or Barry Alder about the planning application. He is still a director with no shareholding .

Ciaran Reilly said he sees his father and brother regularly. He is in retail business and owns a shop with his wife. He has never shared a business with his father.

He said that in 2016 he became interested in purchasing land at Liscarton. He said he had invested in property before and owned shops and apartments.

He said RABS was set up in 2016 as a vehicle to purchase the land. He had agreed with Barry Alder to set up the company. Mr Alder had asked to get involved. Mr Alder became the director and held Ciaran Reilly's shares in trust.

He said he had no discussions about the Liscarton lands with his father before the purchase but in late June or early July 2017 he told him he had bought the land and asked him how he would make a submission on the county development plan and his father told him he had missed the boat.

The six members of the commission who will now consider the evidence are Mr Justice Sheehan; the Comptroller and Auditor General, Seamus McCarthy; the Ombudsman and Information Commissioner for Ireland, Ger Deering; the Clerk of the Dáil, Peter Finnegan; the Clerk of the Seanad, Martin Groves and former member of the Seanad, Geraldine Feeney.