Cork councillor Alan Coleman defends planning vote

A councillor criticised in RTÉ’s Investigations Unit exposé on standards in public office has sought to defend taking part in a planning vote which impacted a site he co-owns.

Independent Cork county councillor and former county mayor, Alan Coleman, also defended his decision not to declare his interest in the site at Garrylucas ahead of a council vote, which he said actually devalued the site.

“There was no advantage coming to me whatsoever in this,” he said.

“If I felt there was something coming up at a development plan or a council meeting which was going to benefit me — and the code of ethics is all about something that will benefit you — if I felt that I was at a meeting where my interests were going to be financially advantaged, I would step aside from that meeting. It’s not about stepping aside if your lands are being disadvantaged.”

However, Berna Grist of UCD’s School of Planning and Environment, said the law in this area is clear.

“They must declare their interest. They must disclose the interests that they have, then they must withdraw from the meeting,” said Ms Grist.

Mr Coleman made his comments yesterday as he moved to clarify his position in the wake of Monday’s RTÉ programme, which recorded three politicians offering to lobby on behalf of a fictitious windfarm company in exchange for money or the promise of a loan or an investment in a private business.

The programme also found omissions in the statutory ethics declarations of 40 councillors, and seven TDs and senators.

Mr Coleman was among the councillors named for failing to properly declare their interests.

The RTÉ Investigations Unit found that he had failed to list a second house he owns outside Charleville in North Cork and that he is the co-owner of residential-zoned land in Garrylucas on the Old Head of Kinsale.

He voted on a local area plan in 2011, which included measures which impacted on the Garrylucas land.