Gardaí contacted over co-op enrolment

A group of former work colleagues have complained to gardaí after being unwittingly enrolled in a co-op that voted their boss’ husband onto the board of a State-sponsored quango.

The six people had worked at the River Rooms on Western Road, Clonakilty, Co Cork, which is owned and run by Geraldine O’Gorman, 47, of Brookfield House, just outside the town.

Her husband, auctioneer Kieran O’Gorman, 49, won an election to represent the southern region on the Irish Horse Board Co-op in Nov 2011. The co-op is subsidiary of Horse Sport Ireland.

His campaign was helped when the regional electoral register swelled by 98 names in the week after nominations closed. The list of new members included 38 members of his extended family and 15 others who had their registered address at Ms O’Gorman’s River Rooms.

It has now emerged some were not consulted before they became members.

Six of those who were registered at the River Rooms visited Bandon Garda Station on Monday and complained that their joining of the co-op was done without their knowledge or consent.

Some of the group had already left the River Rooms when they discovered their membership of the co-op. At least one of the workers resigned from her position late last week after confronting Ms O’Gorman about how she had joined the organisation’s electoral register.

In February, Mr O’Gorman, who is both a peace commissioner and a commissioner of oaths, said he did not know the circumstances which led to family members and those connected to him joining the co-op in late 2011.

Yesterday, he said he was “not good” but had no comment to make. Ms O’Gorman did not return calls.

The IHB Co-op said it was not aware of the issue prior to being contacted by the Irish Examiner. It, or its parent HSI, did not make a statement.

Mr O’Gorman won election to the IHB co-op in late 2011 by a large majority. In the week after nominations closed, on Nov 18, 2011, almost 100 people registered to join the co-op and made themselves eligible to vote.

This included 38 members of Mr O’Gorman’s family including his children, nieces and nephews.

Prior to voting, the IHB co-op intervened to prevent anybody under the age of 18 from voting and this eliminated some of his extended family.

Mr O’Gorman’s political ally Joe Walsh, who was then chair of HSI and a director of the IHB co-op, also joined the electoral roll during this window. So did his wife.

After a report on the unusual voter registration drive appeared in the Irish Examiner in early February, some of Ms O’Gorman’s employees queried how they and those close to them had joined the organisation.

The IHB co-op is chaired by a former assistant secretary general at the Department of Agriculture, Jim Beecher.