The investigation report by the Standards in Public Office Commission in respect of former ‘Navan councillor Tommy Reilly came before Meath county councillors for consideration at their monthly meeting on Monday 1st December. In August, Sipo found that the councillor contravened public ethic s legislation , acting “recklessly” in relation to a zoning matter by failing to declare a personal conflict of interest. Independent Cllr Brian Fitzgerald proposed that the report be “noted” because, he said, “there is nothing we can do”. The report was self-explanatory. A debate on it at this stage would be totally unnecessary. The proposal was seconded by Fine Gael Cllr Gerry O’Connor.
Cllr. Brian Fitzgerald proposed the motion to ”note ” the report, seconded by Cllr Gerry O’Connor.
However, Sinn Fein Cllr Maria White said she did not accept that proposition. Councillors should be given the opportunity to make any statements. There were findings in the report in relation to culture and practices in the county council. She said she did not propose to speak about Tommy Reilly who was not present. “We know that there were measures that were taken but we should have an opportunity to share our concerns and to voice them and to look at what we can do as an organisation to prevent anything like this happening going forward”.
Former Cllr Tommy Reilly served as a councillor for over 27 years in Meath and was outgoing Cathaoirleach Meath County Council in 2024.
Independent Cllr Nick Killian said he had to disagree with his colleague. A proposal to note the report had been made and had been seconded and he proposed that it should go to a vote. Chief Executive Kieran Kehoe said that the report was for consideration and noting. No vote was required. The executive was not there to comment in any way. An investigation had taken place.
Cllr Emer Toibin (Aontú) said that the report presented new questions for councillors in Meath and a few questions for herself. Was there a proposal that any sanction be brought to bear to the former councillor Tommy Reilly, she asked. Was it something that they could consider and bring to the next meeting of the council and discuss what sanctions could take place because there hadn’t been a precedent for something like this happening across the country before. That didn’t mean the Meath councillors couldn’t set a precedent. “Tommy Reilly was found in very serious contraventions and for the council to say that we ‘note’ the findings of Sipo and move on is to me highly unacceptable. He was a councillor in my MD [Municipal district]. I had constituents coming to me with allegations of impropriety by this former councillor. I brought them to the attention of the council back in 2020”,she said.
Cllr Emer Tóibín (Aontú), wanted to have the report debated in the chamber, referring to the importance of maintaining the trust of the constituents in the members elected. Cllr Maria White (SF) also felt the issue should be debated among her fellow cllrs.
It had been very difficult for her to bring any questions about any colleague on the council into the public domain. It was very difficult then and it was no less difficult to talk about it at the council today “but we all have a responsibility to do this”. “There is an onus as public reps to share our concerns, to voice our opinions and not move quickly on. There is a huge element of distrust growing in the public towards elected reps. Every single one of us in this room is aware of that. And I think if we proceed with this process, bringing to a conclusion without any sanctions being brought to the person who breached his ethical obligations as a former councillor, we would be doing untold damage to the trust that has been eroded by the electorate towards publicly elected reps. I feel we should take some time. All of us should have some input as to what sanctions can be brought to bear. This is not something we can just brush under the carpet and say, well he’s no longer a public rep, we should leave the matter there. We want to ensure that the public still has trust in us and this is one way we can try to bring back some of that trust”.
Cllr David Gilroy cautioned his fellow members on the process in place and what could and could not be done.
Independent Cllr David Gilroy said they should be clear on what they could and could not do. If there was no framework for what should be done. He did not think it helpful to build a narrative around what Meath county councillors did not do anything in this instance. There was a process here and they must adhere to the process and stay within the remit of what they could and could not do. “We should be very careful around our own language, particularly when we are talking about matters in the public domain. There are very strict rules about what should happen here and we must stick to those rules”.
The chief executive said there were a few things to note – “we are not here as the investigating authority”. That was Sipo and it had numerous powers in relation to investigation. It could have gone to the Gardai to prepare a file for the Director of Public Prosecutions and they found that they should not do this so therefore any sanctions the county council could impose had no guidance in law for any sanction that could be imposed”. Tommy Reilly was no longer a councillor so the council had no authority to impose any sanctions on him. His advice was that the council had no power to impose any sanctions.
