Ombudsman urged to reopen case

An independent local election candidate has received the support of six TDs and a number of senators in his bid to have the ombudsman reopen his case against Limerick County Council.

They have signed a petition supporting Sean O’Mahony’s call for a review of the ombudsman’s first investigation into the council’s handling of a planning issue and its decision to refuse planning.

Mr O’Mahony, a 56-year-old widower and father-of-two, is standing in the Newcastlewest area on a “justice for all” ticket. Mr O’Mahony, who owns a small business in Laharn, Faha, Killarney, Co Kerry, purchased a 55-acre farm at Ardagh, Newcastlewest, in 2005, which he intended developing. He had a number of pre-planning meetings with Limerick County Council.

He claimed he had been told at one of the meetings, on June 12, 2007, he would be allowed build ten houses and a temporary sewage treatment plant, which would be decommissioned when the council had upgraded its public treatment plant, and he could later apply for a further ten houses when the public plant had been upgraded.

The application also included a 20-bedroom guesthouse and petrol station.

Mr O’Mahony was refused planning in 2009, the main grounds being that the application was premature as the existing Ardagh treatment plant was oversubscribed and that the Limerick County Development Plan did not allow for temporary treatment plants.

However, he maintains that under new pre-planning guidelines, issued by the Department of the Environment on June 8, 2007, he should have been informed of any obvious reasons for refusal.

The ombudsman investigated, but found in favour of the council. Mr O’Mahony appealed to the ombudsman and lost his appeal. He has called for the introduction of legislation so that the ombudsman could be investigated when people had evidence the ombudsman’s office had made mistakes.

Limerick TD and FF Justice spokesman Niall Collins has signed an affidavit that he left a pre-planning meeting on June 12, 2007, in the clear belief that Mr O’Mahony would be approved for planning. The IFA, the ICMSA and the Irish Rural Dwellers’ Association are also supporting Mr O’Mahony’s call for a reopening of the ombudsman’s investigation.

A spokesman for the ombudsman said they could not comment on individual cases.