Councillors may have to give up voluntary roles

Councillors in Mayo remain confused about what constitutes a conflict of interest in regard to their work as public representatives and are now to be given a workshop on the matter.

Debate around the issue has festered ever since council management suddenly introduced 'Conflict of Interest' as an agenda item for all council and committee meetings earlier in the summer, with the topic now generating debate every time the item is called out, whereby members are asked out loud by the chairperson whether they have any conflict of interest with matters coming up for discussion at the various meetings.

When this happened at the October meeting of Mayo County Council, Cllr Brendan Mulroy told management there was more confusion than ever around the issue, owing to an email from the council to councillors advising them that they will have to declare a conflict of interest in the event of a discussion or decision around allocations to clubs or groups they are involved, even if that work is in a voluntary capacity.

Cllr Mulroy said the email had only complicated the situation and pointed out it could be interpreted that there are conflicts of interests in almost everything public representatives do, given that most councillors are involved in local organisations, whether on the committee or board or as volunteers, for which they will naturally seek funding.

Over the course of further debate, it was pointed out that a councillor allocating funding to a road where they happened to live, to a pontoon for a pier where they had a boat, or even to a pop-up swimming pool where their grandchildren loved to swim, could all be construed as a conflict of interest.

Replying to some of the points raised, chief executive Kevin Kelly stated: “There is a declarable interest there if anyone is involved in a club that has an interaction with Mayo County Council, such as in relation to [funding] under General Municipal Allocation (GMA); or where a material contravention of planning permission is being discussed, there is an onus on members to declare if they have an interest. 

"In terms of members allocating their GMA money to clubs, and where an elected member is in the club, they should have that noted at the meeting. It doesn’t stop the allocation but just notes the declaration of interest.” 

Mr Kelly said he had presumed everyone was clear on the issue after it had also been discussed at the September meeting of the forum, adding: “But if members would find it useful, we would be happy for someone to do a workshop with you on this.” 

Cllr Mulroy said the issue was creating so much difficulty for members that they were "probably at the stage of stepping down from all voluntary committees”, adding: “There is clearly a conflict of interest if we are directors in a club and allocate €5,000 in funding to it.” 

He supported the proposal for a workshop, saying: “The last thing any of us as councillors want to do is to have a conflict of interest. It would be terrible if we tripped over this, something so small, we would have to resign our seat over it.” 

Cllr Gerry Coyle agreed, saying he would probably have to step down from five or six committees at a time when “volunteers are hard to get on the ground". Cllr Coyle asked: “If everyone has a conflict of interest and everyone leaves the chamber, what happens then? Does a measure not go through at all? 

"I’m afraid I have a conflict of interest in every single thing I do because I’m trying to get as much money as I can for the people of Erris. That is what I declared on the ballot sheet. I don’t know why it is I have to fill out a form with everyone’s name on it when so many others aren’t asked to do this - officials, priests, teachers. Why just pick on those elected to declare an interest?” 

Asking how the forum would proceed from here, he stated: “I am declaring my conflict of interest now in whatever I will be speaking on later.” 

Cllr Michael Loftus said that while a workshop could well be arranged, the issue had to be changed at government level as it is a government regulation. 

"As Cllr Coyle mentioned, if he had a boat where a pontoon was put in, he might be deemed to get financial benefit down the line. There is a lot of confusion, it’s just crazy.” 

Cllr Donna Sheridan said she could not understand how there could be a conflict of interest if she was sitting on a voluntary committee that received funding because she was "not gaining anything from it".

Cllr Richard Finn said the problem was in the terminology because “conflict of interest has legal connotations”. He wondered whether it could be put in simpler terminology, “and not for us to be incriminated before the fact". 

Cllr Michael Burke, who is an auctioneer, said the issue was still “very raw” and “everyone has a different interpretation". He had spoken with a former council official as to whether a conflict would arise where he wanted a development in Ballinrobe or Claremorris and supported a variation of the development plan to facilitate this and then went on to sell a house in that development later. 

“I was advised that it could indeed be interpreted as a conflict of interest because I supported it and went on to benefit from it; so how do you pre-empt this?” 

He added that he had supported the setting up of a pop-up swimming pool in Ballinrobe that his grandchildren enjoyed very much, and asked: “Is that a conflict of interest as well and if so, where does it stop, and where is there a question I am doing something wrong?” 

He agreed a workshop “might help” but said the whole thing was a “grey area".

Mr Kelly agreed it was "complicated" because it is not just about a conflict of interest but even a perceived conflict of interest. However, he noted that there is no change for members.  

"This relates to what has been in place for years. There is no intention to stop members being involved in their communities and clubs. This is about the protection that is afforded where they declare an interest and have it declared.”

It was agreed to hold a workshop on the issue.

• Published as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.