Local Authority: Cork County Council
Issue: Council property transaction
In 2006, Cork County Council was the subject of a national story which revealed that it had agreed to spend €11.6m on a 20-acre site in Charleville, Co Cork, that had been on sale for €8m just months earlier.
The council had purportedly bought the land to build public housing.
However, it later transpired the vendors had bought the land from a property developer just months before selling it to the council.
The site had been the subject of a well-publicised advertising campaign, meaning that the council ought to have been aware that the land was on offer for €8m.
A council investigation was launched into the deal, and two council officials were subsequently suspended for their involvement in the transaction. It was also reported that Gardaí were asked to investigate the matter.
The council's investigation concluded in 2009.
Remarkably, the council’s report had never been published – meaning that it has never been fully explained why the council did not seek to purchase the lands at the lower price when it had the opportunity to do so.
In 2014, the Information Commissioner upheld a decision issued by Cork County Council, in which it refused to release the investigation report and related records.
RTÉ Investigates recently submitted a new request under the Freedom of Information act to see if we could obtain the report.
We thought that, with the passage of some 13 years since the report’s completion, the council would agree that the public should have a right to know what its investigation found.
But once again, the council refused to release the report.
It stated that numerous people, both internal to the council and external, were involved in the investigation and that these "people were assured of confidentiality applying in the process".
"Release of participant details at this late stage would not be in accordance with the basis for which the information was provided originally", the council said.
However, the council did release correspondence between it and the Gardaí.
This included a letter sent in 2006 by the then Cork County Council county manager, Maurice Moloney, to gardaí in Cork City.
Mr Moloney wrote that members of the public had raised "a number of serious issues" about the purchase of property in the North Cork area, adding that an internal investigation group was in place to deal with the matter.
"If what appears to be suggested in these complaints were to be proven, it would seem to me that it could possibly constitute fraud," Mr Moloney said.
"Because of the involvement of both Council staff and non-Council persons, I do not consider it possible to investigate the matter properly internally. Consequently, I wish to refer the matter to An Garda Siochana for investigation."
Mr Moloney received a reply stating that a meeting would be arranged between council officials and the Garda Fraud Squad.
However, the trail ended there, and no other records relating to correspondence between the council and the Gardai were released.
Earlier this year, the gardaí told RTÉ Investigates that "there was insufficient evidence to support an allegation that any criminal offence had occurred. A Garda investigation did not take place. The complainants were informed of this [in] 2009."
Meanwhile, RTÉ Investigates recently visited the 20-acre site at the centre of the controversy. Despite its enormous cost to the taxpayer and the current housing crisis, the site remains idle.
In a statement, Cork County Council described the land as "an important asset" in the council’s land bank, which has "significant capacity" for a mix of housing tenure.
