TD calls for speedy conclusion of corruption probe
The investigation was launched by gardaí in Dungarvan in May 2005 following serious allegations of irregularities within the county council’s planning department.
In tandem with the garda probe, council officials began an internal investigation, which led to a planning official being suspended on full pay.
Subsequently, another council official was questioned by gardaí in Dungarvan but was later released without charge.
Numerous people both within and outside Waterford County Council have been questioned by the garda investigators, including a number of the elected members of the 23-member council.
However, gardaí will only confirm they have sent a detailed file to the Director of Public Prosecutions and are awaiting further directions from him.
Council officials are making public even fewer details about their internal inquiry, insisting no public comment will be made until the garda probe has been finalised.
However, Mr Wilkinson is calling for finality to be brought to the whole affair which has done serious damage to Waterford County Council from a public relations perspective.
“It is time this protracted investigation was brought to a swift conclusion,” the Fianna Fáil TD said yesterday.
“The ongoing investigation since May of last year is eroding morale among the council’s own staff in a very major way, and has already done massive damage to staff morale and to the county as a whole,” he said.
“I am now asking that it be finalised as speedily as possible and that the full findings be then published,” he added.
Last week, the RTÉ flagship current affairs television programme, Prime Time, carried a report on the planning controversies that have dogged the tiny gaeltacht area of Ring over recent years, some of which are believed to relate to matters under investigation in the garda planning probe.
Waterford County Council came in for stinging criticism on several planning issues from contributors to Prime Time.
The council declined an invitation from the programme to provide a spokesperson to discuss the criticisms made about some of its most controversial planning decisions.
