Council accused of cover-up over City Hall blast

Date Published: 06-Jun-2011

Galway City Council staff were questioned in relation to maintenance work that was carried out on the plumbing system at City Hall in the days before the explosion of a water boiler that occurred at the building exactly one year ago this week.

Witness statements taken from staff in relation to the plumbing work are included in a list of records held by the local authority concerning an investigation into the causes of the explosion, the Sentinel can reveal.

However, one year on from the incident, a former mayor has again accused Galway City Council of a cover-up in relation to the incident after it refused to release details of documents pertaining to the investigation under the Freedom of Information Act.

Among the records that the Council refused to release is a series of 14 pieces of correspondence between the local authority and Health and Safety Authority (HAS) between June 11, 2010 and September 9 last year.

The Council also denied access to a Dangerous Occurrence Investigation Report, the existence of which is confirmed in the list of records held by local authority, and the witness statements of 14 members of staff who were interviewed in the aftermath of the explosion.

Galway City Council said that the documents were not being released because the investigation into the blast that is understood to have originated from a water boiler near the Finance Department at City Hall has not yet been completed – one year after the incident occurred.

The Freedom of Information Officer of the Council also said: “It is also my opinion that the public interest would not be better served by the release of the documents at this stage.”

See full story in this week’s Connacht Sentinel.