INDEPENDENT Councillor Frank Durcan has rejected a request by a high-ranking official of Mayo County Council to withdrawn an allegation that the authority is ‘corrupt’ in respect of planning matters.

The Castlebar-based representative made his claim at the January meeting of the authority and repeated it at the local electoral area committee meeting three days later.

The county secretary, John Condon, wrote to Councillor Durcan on January 23 last asking him to reconsider what he had said.

The letter read: “You stated (at the January meeting of the council) that a Minister of State is on record in Dáil Éireann as having said Mayo County Council is corrupt when it comes to planning matters.

 

“When requested by the county manager (Peter Hynes), you failed to elaborate and provide details of this allegation. I have since taken the opportunity of examining the Dáil debates and have been unable to find any reference to what you allege.

“You will appreciate that in the interest of both Mayo County Council and the Minister of State, whom you were referring to, full details should now be made available so that this matter can be further examined.

“This would enable any misunderstanding to be clarified and, if necessary, for arrangements to be made to have the record corrected.

“Accordingly, I would now be grateful if you would let me have full details, including the name of the Minister of State, the date of his remarks in the Dáil and the subject matter of these remarks.

“In view of the seriousness of this matter, I would appreciate if you would give it your immediate attention.”

In a reply on January 24, Councillor Durcan said he made his statement while speaking on his motion calling for a public debate on the ‘inconsistency of the application of the contents of successive county development plans in the dealing with planning applications by Mayo County Council’.

“Having been refused my request by the members of the council, then I am not prepared to accede to your request until such time as I am afforded a public platform by the council to expose the numerous cases of corruption in relation to planning within Mayo County Council which I have investigated and hold documentary evidence to confirm what I have already stated.”

Mr. Condon wrote to Councillor Durcan again on January 25. He stated: “I have now considered the content of your letter and again examined the record of Dáil debates.