Clare County Council was last night accused of having something to hide over its €123 million contract with Gama Construction to build the Ennis bypass.
The claim by Fine Gael councillor Joe Carey followed councillors voting to exclude journalists from a debate relating to the Gama contract at its May meeting last night.
Arising from a recommendation from county solicitor Michael Houlihan, the councillors voted 19 to nine to have the meeting held in committee - the first time in a number of years where the council has moved to go into closed session.
Mr Houlihan told councillors that he has presented a very comprehensive report to the county manager Alec Fleming on the council's contract with Gama.
"My preference is that this report be dealt with in committee to avoid public comment and any wrong comment, as it may leave the council open to exposure. If it was held in open session, this would put difficulties on the contract and allow information being conveyed to underbidders on the existing contract."
Last year, the Turkish company secured the contract from council to build the 21km route for €123 million after lodging the lowest tender, beating off competition from five other companies, including four Irish competitors.
The tender, lodged in partnership with Austrian firm Strabag, allows the Government have the road built for €14 million cheaper than the overall price-tag of €205 million put on the scheme by the then minister for transport Séamus Brennan.
Mr Houlihan last night asked the councillors to treat the report he has presented to Mr Fleming in the strictest confidence.
In response to a question from Cllr Martin Lafferty (Ind), Mr Houlihan said that council had no statutory duty in policing wages on the contract.
Senior council official Michael McNamara told the meeting that standing orders allowed the meeting go into committee provided the proposal had over 50 per cent support of members.
Last night, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) condemned the council's decision to exclude journalists from the meeting.
In a statement, Séamus Dooley, Irish NUJ secretary, said: "We believe that this is a matter of public interest and it is scandalous that a local authority should decide to exclude the media from the meeting. Clearly it would have been unacceptable for the media to have been banned when Deputy Joe Higgins exposed the company in Dáil Éireann. What is good enough in Leinster House is good enough for Clare County Council."
Mr Dooley called on the Minister for the Environment Dick Roche to bring in legislation prohibiting matters from being discussed in committee at local authority meetings.
"I can't see any justification for what has happened in Clare and it is the latest in a series of abuses by councils to go into committee across the country," he added.
