The first day of a two-day hearing by the Standards in Public Office (Sipo) commission investigating whether former Meath County Council Cathaoirleach Tommy Reilly breached the Local Government Act 2001 and the Code of Conduct for councillors. The hearing got underway on Friday, 13th June’25 and heard evidence from a former council chief executive Jackie Maguire and a planning consultant Eamon Collins. The hearing took place at the commission’s head office and up to 16 people viewed the proceedings online. The members of the commission are Garret Sheehan chairperson, Seamus McCarthy Comptroller and Auditor General, Ger Deering Ombudsman, Peter Finnegan Clerk of the Dail, Martin Groves Clerk of the Seanad and Geraldine Feeney ordinary member. The legal counsel on behalf of the commission is Mark Curran barrister and Mr Reilly’s legal representatives are Declan Brooks of Shanley Solicitors, Seamus O Tuathail AS, and Daithi Mac Cartaigh barrister.
Mr Reilly who was outgoing Cathaoirleach of Meath County Council lost his seat at the local elections last year after holding a seat in the Navan Local Electoral Area for Fianna Fail for 27 years.
The county council conducted an internal investigation into a potential breach of ethical rules by the councillor and this related to a plot of land on the Navan-Kells Road which was rezoned. This increased its value eight fold. The 35-acre site at Liscarton was owned by Mr Reilly’s son Kieran. It was bought for €500,000 in 2016, then rezoned by the council in the following year and was put up for sale for €4.2 million.
The county council investigation found that while Mr Reilly had excused himself from the vote which changed the zoning of the land, he had “inadvertently” broken ethical rules by “not updating his register of interests”. He had believed he had acted in good faith and that he had met all statutory and ethical duties by disclosing a conflict of interest and making himself absent from consideration of the planning at a council meeting in 2017.
Following the investigation, the council found that, according to the information available, no disciplinary action against Mr Reilly was warranted. The commission’s barrister told the hearing that Mr Reilly had attended Navan MD meetings in July 2016 and March 2017 and a county council meeting in May 2017 at which updates were given on the county development plan. Then at a special meeting of Navan MD on 19th July 2017 the land at Liscarton was rezoned in a variation of the county development plan. Mr Reilly excused himself stating that he had a conflict of interest but did not disclose what that conflict was. He updated the register of interests in 2020 to include his sons’ ownership of the land. A company called Royal Active Building Solutions was incorporated in August 2017 and in December 2017, Kieran Reilly and Barry Alders were the directors. In December 2018 Mr Alders was no longer a director but the directors were Kieran Reilly and Tomas Reilly, Mr Tommy Reilly’s sons.
Mr Reilly attended a pre-panning meeting on 29th March 2019 with his son Kieran Reilly and consultant Eamon Collins. He had been listed as an applicant but said he had attended as a county
councillor. Only become aware of his sons’ ownership of the land two weeks before the July 2017 meetings.
Retired council chief executive Jackie Maguire told the hearing that a complaint about Mr Reilly had been lodged with her and then Cathaoirleach Cllr David Gilroy. The council then investigated the complaint and invited Mr Reilly to a meeting in October 2020 attended by herself, Cllr Gilroy and Mr Collins and at that meeting 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 the rezoning took place. He had absented himself from that meeting, he had told her. He had told her that he had no personal interest in the land in question that his son was 46 years old and had a lot of business interests. Ms Maguire 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 interest”.
She added that she felt that greater training should be given to councillors about the register of interests as it could be confusing. The onus was on the individual councillor to make the declaration. She also accepted that Mr Reilly had no knowledge of his sons’ involvement in the land until two weeks beforehand. Ms Maguire said it was “unwise” of Mr Reilly to attend the pre-planning meeting because his son was the applicant. It was not unusual for councillors to attend pre-planning meetings which was where applicants sought information before a planning application was made. She said that no lobbying takes place at those meetings.
It was the case that at council meetings councillors and officials would have been reminded of their obligations verbally particularly where they would have discussed planning matters. It was up to an individual to know whether they had a conflict. The council law agent might be present “but we would always remind councillors of their obligations”. She said she had checked the minutes of the meeting of 19th July to see whether then Cllr Reilly had made a declaration and had absented himself from the meeting and would have checked if the register was updated.
Planning consultant Eamon Collins was asked at the hearing if Mr Tommy Reilly had attended a pre-planning meeting with him he said that he did not know him. He couldn’t recall whether Mr Reilly had identified himself to him. “He may have, I don’t recall”. It was not his role to report who was there, that was the role for the planning authority. A barrister put it to him that on a form that had been filed out Tommy Reilly had been listed as an “applicant”. Mr Collins replied “That was a mistake, I was never told that”. That was a mistake on his part, later corrected.
