Eight City Council staff fail to fill in ethics declarations

Three ethics declarations by councillors were incomplete while four were returned after the due date, a new independent audit has found.

However, the review by the Local Government Auditor found that councillors were not the only ones who failed to comply with the law when it came to making their annual declarations to the ethics register.

The auditor discovered that eight Galway City Council staff had failed to make their declarations while four staffers submitted their declarations after the February cut-off this year. Five were submitted by workers that were incomplete.

Councillor Padraig Conneely stated that he had put in his ethics form.

“With the number of Freedom of Information requests they’re putting in I know they’re targeting me. But, by Jesus, they won’t find it about me. I put in my ethics form. Yet, here we have ten staff not filling in the forms at all.”

Senior Executive Officer for Corporate Services Dermot Mahon said of the eight staff mentioned in the audit, six had left the organisation, having retired or moved on.