'No accountability' - County manager appointed to State agency months after censure

Wexford county manager, Tom Enright, had suggested one of South East Radio's reporters had a “personal vendetta” against him

Verona Murphy said: "The reality is we have no accountability. If we don’t have it at CEO level, we can’t have it at housing officer level." File photo: Gareth Chaney/Collins

A lack of “accountability” in public service job appointments has been sharply criticised after a county manager was appointed to a State agency just five months after being censured by the standards watchdog.

Thursday’s Public Accounts Committee saw an angry exchange between independent TD Verona Murphy and secretary-general of the Department of Housing, Graham Doyle, over the appointment of Wexford county manager, Tom Enright, to the Housing Finance Agency (HFA).

Mr Enright’s promotion came just five months after he was heavily criticised by the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO) which had investigated communications between the county manager and South East Radio. In the communications, Mr Enright had suggested one of the radio's reporters had a “personal vendetta” against him and he had threatened to withdraw council advertising from the station.

In its report published in January, SIPO had found against Mr Enright in all three of the allegations made against him. The report was noted by Wexford County Council with no further action taken.

It said Mr Enright had failed to “maintain proper standards of integrity, conduct and concern for the public interest” in his correspondence with South East Radio, that he had behaved “recklessly” and had not acted in good faith.

However, the PAC heard today from Housing Department official Fiona Quinn that while people are “fully vetted” before being appointed to the board of a body such as the HFA, an adverse SIPO finding “would not necessarily form part of the Garda vetting process”. The HFA has a €5bn budget to finance housing.

In discussing the appointment, Mr Doyle said he was uncomfortable about “getting into the territory of naming public individuals”.

“A list of eligible people who have met criteria will be forwarded to the minister. It is the minister’s choice,” he said.

Ms Murphy said South East Radio had written to the Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien after they received further correspondence in the wake of the SIPO report about a possible termination of commercial activities on the part of Wexford County Council.

“The same minister has just appointed him to the HFA,” she said.

The reality is we have no accountability. If we don’t have it at CEO level, we can’t have it at housing officer level.

Mr Doyle told the PAC that “any public official” should be of the highest integrity, and agreed that all top-level appointments within the public service are vetted properly”.

He said that while he “might have a lot to say” should a poor candidate present for a promotion to a State board, “I don’t think I would have particular powers” in that regard. He said that while he holds SIPO in high regard, “a SIPO finding does not prevent someone from holding a role in the future”. 

“There is a process in place, I’m not happy talking about an individual,” he said.