Cork County Council is to write to the Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche, asking him to strengthen the rules of disclosure governing councillors who, through their professional and business interests, are involved in land developments.
The proposal follows a debate at the council yesterday when Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil backed an amendment to a motion that called for stronger rules of disclosure for councillors involved in a professional capacity in the development of land.
Some 31 members of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil present for the vote backed the proposal while five Labour councillors and one Sinn Féin member present voted against the proposal, which came in the form of an amendment to a motion from Labour's Cllr Paula Desmond.
Cllr Desmond, a solicitor, had tabled a motion seeking to strengthen the rules of disclosure governing the councillors "who are also auctioneers in order to address both real and perceived conflicts of interest in land rezoning issues". Cllr Desmond prefaced her proposal by stressing that she was casting no aspersions on the handful of councillors on the council who work as auctioneers, but there was a real need for strengthening the rules of disclosure in land-rezoning issues.
Auctioneer councillors have the opportunity to benefit personally and financially from council decisions, such as rezoning, in a way that no other business or professional can and there was nothing illegal with this, she said.
"I don't believe the system as it stands is adequate. If a councillor/auctioneer is acting on behalf of a developer or vendor of land at the time of a council vote, he is currently obliged to declare a conflict of interest.
"If, however, by some fortunate twist of fate that councillor/auctioneer only becomes aware after a vote that he will benefit financially in his private capacity, no such obligation exists and that's the weakness," Cllr Desmond said.
