Suspended council officers back at work

The two officers suspended for seven days without pay following investigations into planning in Kerry County Council resumed …

The two officers suspended for seven days without pay following investigations into planning in Kerry County Council resumed work yesterday.

Mr Donal Mangan, a senior engineer in the roads department and town engineer, was back at his post in Killarney.

He is to be reassigned to another area, possibly Tralee, but it will be some weeks before the transfer takes place.

A second officer, also suspended without pay for seven days following a trawl of over 4,000 files in the county council planning department, also returned to work.

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The council has refused to name this officer, responsible for 41 of the 148 planning applications which showed involvement by council employees.

They refused to name him because he was the subject of an internal investigation only, and not the subject of complaints by members of the public.

Another engineer, Mr Michael Purtill, received a warning and was named in the report on the planning investigations by the county manager, Mr Martin Nolan.

However, the unnamed official "had been previously warned about conducting a gainful occupation outside the local authority", the county manager's report states.

The official does not work in the council's planning department, a spokeswoman confirmed yesterday.

The council would not comment yesterday on whether they would be passing information on him and another individual involved in 19 of the planning applications, to the Revenue Commissioners.