Local authority planning, technical and engineering staff are coming under "undue pressure" following recent allegations about corruption. There is also a danger innocent actions may be misrepresented, according to union and professional representatives.
Fears are growing that the Minister for the Environment and Rural Development's invitation last week to "blow the whistle" is increasing pressure on engineers, planners and technical staff. Mr Dempsey's call has led to what some have described as "open season" on engineers and council staff generally, who are easy targets for all sorts of allegations.
A Kerry County Council official said yesterday: "Put it this way, anyone with any kind of allegation or even grudge can open an investigation into an employee of a local authority. There is no protection. If an engineer did a favour for a neighbour or for a voluntary group, that can be held against him."
Kerry County Council has had telephone calls about individuals since the revelations of corruption in Roscommon. Other local authorities have received calls, too.
Mr Frank O'Malley, secretary of SIPTU's Local Authority Professional Officers section, said the notion of "investigating someone" conjured up wrongdoing of huge proportions - often out of all proportion to the alleged offence.
"We have no difficulty with due process and letting investigations take their course. But we have a difficulty with statements being made about individuals which infer wrongdoing before it is proven, " he said.
Mr O'Malley appealed to councillors, "especially in an election year", and to the general public to act responsibly and "investigate the matter fully" before naming individuals to the media or in council chambers.
He said there was a real fear of allegations being made among engineering staff now and it was putting pressure on them and affecting their work.
The Institute of Engineers of Ireland is expected to issue a statement today on the events of the last week. Some 12,000 of its 17,000 members, North and South, are employed in local authorities.