Hynes claims karma came back to haunt Durcan

ISSUED STATEMENT  Mayo County Council Chief Executive Peter Hynes issued a statement at yesterday's monthly meeting before leaving the chamber while the SIPO report was being debated by councillors.

Chief Executive launches scathing attack on Cllr Frank Durcan following SIPO report

Anton McNulty

Mayo County Council Chief Executive Peter Hynes yesterday (Monday) launched a scathing attack on independent councillor Frank Durcan, claiming that his ‘disruptive and abusive behaviour’ has ‘come back to haunt him’.
Mr Hynes, along with Cllr Durcan and Cllr Cyril Burke (Fine Gael), were all subject to an investigation by the Standards in Public Office Commission into alleged attempts to rezone land for a nursing home.
Mr Hynes was cleared of any wrongdoing while both Cllr Burke and Cllr Durcan were found to have been in breach of a Code of Conduct for elected representatives.
The reports came before yesterday’s monthly meeting of Mayo County Council for councillors to consider. Before the matter was discussed Mr Hynes read a statement where he welcomed the finding, which he said vindicated him completely of any wrongdoing before switching his attention to Cllr Durcan.
“It is a matter of considerable regret that Mayo County Council has yet again been the subject of national headlines because of another melodrama instigated by Cllr Durcan. This latest saga has again wasted time, resources, effort and energy.
“Cllr Durcan’s disruptive and abusive behaviour, featuring vindictive personalised attacks going back over many years, has impeded the work of this Council. The sanctions for such continuous disruptive and abusive behaviour need to be urgently reviewed.
“Some people believe in karma, and there is at least some poetic justice in this case in that Cllr Durcan’s own actions have backfired and have come back to haunt him,” he said, before  excusing himself from the rest of the meeting, delegating all appropriate authority to Director of Services, John Condon.

Investigation
The investigation centred on interactions between the two councillors in late 2014, which were the subject of an internal Mayo County Council investigation, before being referred to SIPO.
SIPO found that Cllrs Durcan and Burke came to an arrangement that Cllr Durcan would withdraw Freedom of Information requests he had made, in the expectation that this would lead to a favourable planning decision for land he owned.
In addressing the SIPO report referring to Cllr Durcan, Mr Condon said SIPO found Cllr Durcan was acting for his own benefit. Mr Condon said the extent of the potential gain was ‘very substantial’.
Mr Condon added that SIPO concluded in both findings against Cllr Durcan that, on the balance of probabilities, each contravention was committed intentionally.
Cllr Durcan told the meeting that the findings were the greatest travesty of justice and he was ‘completely and utterly innocent of all the findings against me’. He criticised the decision by the Commission to hold the hearing in private and said, as a result, he was not able to refer to anything from the hearing which is not contained in the final report.
“We have to bring it all to the grave and never discuss what happened in that room over six days whether perjury was committed or anything else. I don’t think that is democracy in any sense. This is a joke if I cannot defend myself.
“What is the point in me standing up here. There is no point in me standing up here and saying anything in my defence when seemingly the decision has been made. What can I say and what am I allowed to say if I cannot defend myself. I have any amount of letters regarding the County Manager [Mr Hynes] but I cannot use them in my defence,” he said.
Cllr Burke excused himself from the meeting but in a statement he said he was delighted that the serious contraventions of the code of conduct were not proven against him and he was found not to have acted in a corrupt fashion. He added that allegations against him were investigated by the gardaí and they concluded he had no case to answer.
“I am extremely disappointed that SIPO made findings against me of two more minor contraventions although I note it is acknowledged that my contraventions were unintentional and minor. I have to say that I cannot agree that the evidence adduced supported any such findings,” he stated.
While Cllr Durcan said that he is considering a judicial review, Cllr Burke ruled this out. The matter concerning him is currently being investigated by the Fine Gael party executive.
Mr Condon explained that the council do not have the power to suspend any councillor but councillors have to decide what action to be taken.
Cllr Gerry Ginty said he accepted the findings of the report but described the incident as a ‘sad saga’. He also criticised Mr Hynes for only referring to Cllr Durcan in his statement as it may give the indication that he was ‘one sided’.
Fianna FΡil whip Cllr Damien Ryan said his party considered the report and described it as ‘a dark episode’ in the history of the local authority. He said they accepted the findings of the report and condemned them in the strongest possible terms. This motion was seconded by Fine Gael’s Cllr Jarlath Munnelly.
A protest held by People Before Profit took place before the meeting where they called on both councillors to resign their seats. Sinn Féin councillor Gerry Murray said the whole episode had eroded public confidence in politics and called on Cllr Durcan to consider his position and resign his seat. In relation to Cllr Burke, he did not call for him to resign as he said the matter was being investigated by the Fine Gael executive and he would not preempt what their decision would be.