Kerry County Council defends itself after ranking as worst in key transparency indicators

The chief executive of Kerry County Council has defended the council’s compliance with “all statutory requirements” after a report found Kerry was joint-worst among all local authorities in key transparency indicators such as publishing councillor’s expenses and other information.

Transparency International Ireland the Irish Chapter of the worldwide movement against corruption scored Kerry and Westmeath joint last, with two councils in Dublin, Fingal and South Dublin, scoring highest.

A National Integrity Index of all 31 local authorities showed just 10 are publishing political donations given to their councillors. None is publishing the chief executive’s diary.

Two councillors, Cllr Pa Daly of Sinn Fein and Independent Cllr Brendan Cronin raised the report at Monday’s meeting of Kerry County Council with Cllr Daly asking the CEO what steps were being taken to address the low scoring.

CEO Moira Murrell said Kerry, like all local authorities, operates in compliance with a strong local government governance framework set out under national legislation, as well as complying with statutory governance codes for both staff and elected members.

This statutory governance framework is overseen by internal and external bodies, including the National Oversight & Audit Commission (NOAC) which is the prescribed body established by Government to provide independent oversight of the local government sector, she said.

New reports from the auditor to be presented to the council in January would give Kerry “a very strong report", she said.

“I am satisfied any statutory requirement is being complied with,” Ms Murrell said.

However, she would consider the comments by TII about publishing and make improvements where necessary.

Meanwhile, councillors have been warned to use their council email addresses as this was the email that enjoyed the highest cybersecurity. Some members were using gmail and a number of other addresses.

Mayor of Kerry Niall Kelleher revealed there had been an attack on the council in recent weeks.