The Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO) has found that former Fianna Fáil Meath county councillor Tommy Reilly contravened public ethics legislation and that he did so "recklessly".
It follows a two-day hearing carried out by the public ethics watchdog in June which centred on a plot of land that was ultimately owned by Mr Reilly's son and which increased eightfold in value after being rezoned by Meath County Council.
The hearing was told that what Mr Reilly knew and when - regarding a conflict of interest over the plot of land located on the outskirts of Navan that was ultimately owned by one and then two of his sons - was at the heart of this matter.
The site was bought for €500,000 in 2016, rezoned by the council the following year and then went on the market for €4.2m.
Responding to the verdict in a brief statement this evening, Meath County Council said it is "considering the report and is seeking advice on the next steps at this stage".
Mr Reilly, who was the outgoing cathaoirleach of the council at the time, lost his seat on Meath County Council in the local elections in June of last year.
He had held that council seat in the Navan Local Electoral Area for Fianna Fáil for 27 years.
An internal investigation by Meath County Council previously 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".
Reilly 'never set foot' on land in question
The investigation was launched after the local authority became aware of Mr Reilly’s connection to the 35-acre site at Liscarton, which was ultimately owned by one and then two of his sons.
However, Mr Reilly always maintained that he believed he acted in good faith and that he had met his statutory and ethical obligations by disclosing a conflict of interest and absenting himself from consideration of the particular matter at a special planning meeting of the full council on 19 July 2017.
Mr Reilly told the public ethics watchdog that he "never set foot" on the land in question, which he said has never been sold and remains a field that cattle and sheep continue to graze on today.
Today, the commission published its verdict following the two-day investigation hearing it held in June.
It found that Mr Reilly contravened the legislation surrounding a conflict of interest in a case of this nature.
Of the four alleged contraventions that the commission investigated, it found that three had been breached and that these breaches had been committed "recklessly".
'Should have known better' - report
The commission also found that these were "serious, as opposed to minor, matters".
The investigation report stated that Mr Reilly had accepted in his own evidence that he failed to disclose the fact of his son’s interest in the lands in Liscarton at the special planning meeting in 2017.
The commission found that this was a contravention of the Local Government Act that had been "committed recklessly".
The investigation report stated that "as a long-standing councillor of 21 years service at the time, and with all the experience that entails," Mr Reilly "should have known better".
The report goes on to state that the commission also took into account "the fact that the vote on the variation at the Special Planning Meeting was likely to significantly increase the value of the land owned by Mr Tommy Reilly’s son’s company and that Mr Tommy Reilly could not have failed to understand this".
During the hearing in June, the commission was also told that Mr Reilly had accompanied his son in a representative capacity at a pre-planning consultation with council officials in relation to the land at Liscarton before it was rezoned.
Mr Reilly had disputed the nature of this meeting and said it was an "explanatory planning meeting" and not a "pre-application consultation" meeting.
His legal counsel Seamás Ó Tuathail also told the commission that he did not see how the Local Government Act had been breached in the way these meetings had been conducted as Mr Reilly "had not opened his mouth" at them.
However, the commission found that there had been breaches of public ethics legislation in this respect and that Mr Reilly’s attendance at this meeting was "not appropriate".
The commission found Mr Reilly's conduct in this regard amounted to two breaches of the relevant legislation.
The investigation report stated that it is the commission’s view that "Mr Tommy Reilly attended the pre-planning consultation for the purpose of representing his son’s company in a matter which would ultimately come before the council executive for decision and which would potentially significantly benefit his son".
The commission accepted that the former councillor did not say anything of substance at the meeting but found that "his presence was significant".
The public ethics watchdog also found that this collectively amounted to "a failure to maintain proper standards of integrity, conduct and concern for the public interest in carrying out his functions as a member of the council".
It found that having acknowledged that he could have nothing to do with the land less than a year previous, Mr Reilly must have "foreseen the risk" that his attendance at the pre-planning consultation may be "inappropriate" but he "acted recklessly" by still proceeding to attend the meeting.
In relation to a fourth alleged contravention of public ethics legislation, the commission was unable to find, on the evidence before it, that Mr Reilly had "actual knowledge" of his son’s, or sons’, interest in lands in Liscarton prior to early July 2017.
However, the commission has said it notes that up until the second day of the hearing, Mr Reilly’s son, Kieran had originally stated in written correspondence to the commission that he had discussed the purchase of the lands with his father prior to the acquisition.
The report stated that he only changed his position on this matter in his oral evidence under oath before the commission at the investigation hearing in June.
The six members of the commission who heard the evidence at the two-day investigation hearing in June and returned their verdict today were: its chairperson and retired judge of the Court of Appeal, Garrett 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 "ordinary member" and former member of the Seanad, Geraldine Feeney.
