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VILLAGEAugust/September
NEWS DONEGAL
Michael McLoone seeks damages, punitive damages and aggravated damages
for defamation. By Michael Smith
Dodgy Donegal’s ex-Manager
sues Village Editor
M
ICHAEL McLoone, former County
Manager in Donegal is suing
me. He wants damages, puni-
tive damages, aggravated damages and an
order prohibiting the further publication
of unspecified statements the subject of the
proceedings. We’re not worried. The pro-
ceedings relate to material the substance
of which is privileged because it refers to
affidavits opened in court, and the proceed-
ings and earlier correspondence so far have
failed to suggest specific inaccuracies in the
allegations made about Donegal planning
in Village.
The proceedings concern the substance of
evidence given in the High Court by Gerard
Convie, who strangely this time remains
unburdened by such proceedings, though
he has received them in the past, from Mr
McLoone. Mr Convie worked in Donegal
County Council as a senior planner for
years and has claimed, in an affidavit opened
in court, that during his tenure in the Council
there was bullying and intimidation of plan-
ners who sought to make decisions based
exclusively on the planning merits of par-
ticular applications.
In the affidavit, Convie also refers to irreg-
ularities perpetrated by named officials at
the highest level in the Council including
former Manager McLoone, as well as named
county councillors. Convie had a list of more
than “suspect cases” in the County but
his complaints to various Ministers for the
Environment and to the Standards in Public
Office Commission for years got nowhere.
Local media have been reticent about cover-
ing the matter. A recent interview of Convie
on Highland Radio was recorded but, with
no explanation, never broadcast.
After the Greens got into government,
Environment Minister, John Gormley (now
contributing editor to Village), announced
“planning reviews” in , not of cor-
ruption but of bad practice – in seven local
authorities including Donegal. Convie’s case
studies comprised all the material for the
review in Donegal. But when the new Fine
Gael/Labour government took over it very
quickly dropped the independent inquir-
ies. A lazy internal review stated: “The
department’s rigorous analysis finds that the
allegations do not relate to systemic corrup-
tion in the planning system”. As regards
Donegal, the Department, extraordinar-
ily and scandalously, decided – according
to Minister Jan O’Sullivan in the Dáil, that:
“… the complainant [Convie] has failed at any
stage to produce evidence of wrong-doing in
Donegal Council’s planning department”.
Convie felt this left him in an invidious
position and, in the absence of any defence
of him from any source, he successfully
sued. In the resulting High Court Order all
the conclusions by the Minister were with-
drawn, including reports on the matters
prepared for the Minister by Donegal County
Council, leaving the Council in the compro-
mising position that it – in correspondence
with Village – now appears to be defending
reports that its mother department did not
consider defensible.
The government was – of course - forced
to reinstate the planning enquiries but
it is a scandal that the Department of the
Environment ever said Convie had failed to
produce evidence of wrongdoing. Though at
considerable public expense this view was
eventually repudiated, how it arose must be
investigated – and officials and Ministers
O’Sullivan and her boss, the now Eurobound
Phil Hogan, held to account.
The syndrome of blind antagonism to
whistleblowers is directly analogous to the
view the Department of Justice took on the
At considerable public expense the
Department’s view was eventually
repudiated, how it arose must be
investigated – and officials and Ministers
O’Sullivan and her boss, the now Eurobound
Phil Hogan, held to account
“
Letterkenny, Donegal
(no impropriety
imputed)
August/September VILLAGE
respective credibilities of the Garda and
its whistleblowers in the recent imbroglio
that led to the demise of that Department’s
Minister.
As to the reviews, in February the
Department of the Environment told Village:
“In relation to the position of Donegal Co Co
the Department has also sought the advice
of the Attorney General before decid-
ing on a course of action.”. On August
the Department stated that “we have just
received further advice on the Donegal plan-
ning review from the AG’s Office in the last
week which is currently being considered”.
In June Village was told “In relation to the
independent report into the other six plan-
ning authorities it is expected that this will
be concluded soon”. Indeed Frank Connolly
reports elsewhere in this edition that there
is a chance the review may be extended to
Wicklow.
Once the Attorney General reports, the
Department must stop prevaricating and
announce a proper review by a barris-
ter into impropriety in Donegal planning
under the Planning and Development
Act (s).
Ideally the Garda would investigate plan-
ning and corruption issues but their record
over the Planning Tribunal and in Donegal
more generally hardly inspires confidence.
The deficit must be addressed by a change of
culture, and training and financing.
Crucially, in the event it is serious about
dealing with planning corruption for the
future, the government must introduce the
planning regulator it has in principle agreed
to. Minister Jan O’Sullivan, when an envi-
ronment minister, described instigation of
the regulator as a “milestone”, and promised
legislation for it by this summer.
The regulator was probably the most
important recommendation of the Mahon
Tribunal report. But it is important the
regulator should regulate. The Tribunal rec-
ommended that it should have wide powers to
investigate “systemic problems in the plan-
ning system, including possible corruption”
and that it “should also keep the planning
system under review … to ensure that cor-
ruption risks are identified and corrected as
they arise and that the planning and develop-
ment system is functioning optimally”.
The regulator must be instigated urgently
and must have investigative and regula-
tory powers. Unfortunately the Labour
Party has been touting a vision of a regu-
lator whose decisions are subject to a veto
by the Minister: not so much a Regulator as
an advisor. The whole history of Irish plan-
ning, well understood by the Labour Party,
suggests this would be a recipe for farce. The
new Minister, Alan Kelly, has an opportunity
to reclaim ground for his Party in a sphere a
where its record is good.
Meanwhile at the other end of the politi-
cal spectrum it is a former Attorney General,
(and indeed Minister for Justice) Michael
McDowell, who is named in the defama-
tion summons as senior counsel for Mr
McLoone. Of course no impropriety would
ever be imputed to Mr McDowell, or any of
his brethren, and it would be unfair to expect
him, wearing his advocate’s wig, to be cir-
cumspect in dealing with such affairs, just
because of the PDs’ record in facilitating
banking and building laxity. Nevertheless
it is disappointing since he had (unpaid and
generously) been engaged by Village in the
preliminary stages of an effort earlier in the
year to pursue Unicredit Bank in a private
prosecution for failure to meet its capi-
tal ratios. The case was to be grounded in
allegations extensively aired in Village by
whistleblower, Jonathan Sugarman, but Mr
Sugarman lost his job arising from the mal-
practice and is, like so many whistleblowers,
beleaguered and financially stricken. He
now seems unlikely to pursue the prosecu-
tion. In any event, Mr McDowell’s advices
to Village, we must now assume, will not be
forthcoming. •
Michael Smith is editor of Village.
Carrickn, County Donegal
(no impropriety imputed)
Unfortunately the Labour Party has been
touting a vision of a regulator whose
decisions are subject to a veto by the
Minister: not so much a Regulator as an
advisor. The whole history of Irish planning
suggests this would be a recipe for farce
“
