O'Donoghue resigns from Bórd Fáilte
KILLARNEY Mayor Cllr Patrick O'Donoghue has resigned his position as a director of the Fáilte Ireland tourism authority following political pressure after he pleaded guilty to breaching ethics legislation.
Mr O'Donoghue tendered his resignation from the authority to Arts Sport and Tourism Minister Martin Cullen last Friday.
The Fianna Fail Councillor had faced calls from opposition parties to step down from the board following his guilty plea at Tralee Circuit Criminal Court to attempting to influence a decision of Killarney Town Council.
The issue was raised by Labour senator Alan Kelly who said there were "serious question marks over the appropriateness" of Cllr O'Donoghue remaining as a director of Fáilte Ireland.
At Tralee Circuit Criminal Court last month Cllr O'Donoghue pleaded guilty to seeking to influence Killarney Town Council in the re-zoning of 20 acres of his family's lands. Sentencing was set for June 30 next.
The charge related to a meeting of Killarney Town Council on March 6 2006. A motion came before that meeting seeking to re-zone 20 acres of Mr O'Donoghue's family lands surrounding the Gleneagle and Brehon Hotels in Killarney.
The motion sought to confer town centre status on the lands, which are around a mile from the centre of Killarney and are on the urban/rural divide. It was passed by a majority of councillors, even though the motion was vigorously opposed by council management.
Mr O'Donoghue attended the council meeting, declared his interests, didn't take part in the debate on the motion and abstained when it was voted on.
However, the Standards in Public Office (SIPO) commission subsequently conducted an investigation and said it was satisfied that Mr O'Donoghue had breached ethics by seeking the support of councillors on the re-zoning motion.
SIPO referred its findings to the DPP and Cllr O'Donoghue was charged following a garda investigation. Mr O'Donoghue now faces a maximum sentence of a €10,000 fine or two years imprisonment.
Any person convicted of corrupt practices is disqualified from membership of a local authority. However SIPO said this doesn't affect Mr O'Donoghue's position as Mayor of Killarney because the disqualification only comes into effect upon conviction.
Mayor O'Donoghue will not be formally convicted until his sentencing hearing on June 30, some three weeks after Killarney's new Town Council is elected.
The courts have the power to disqualify any person found guilty of offences involving fraud or dishonesty or an offence involving a company from holding a directorship or senior management position in a company for a period of five years.
According to a declaration of interests filed with Killarney Town Council Patrick O'Donoghue currently holds 18 directorships.
Cllr O'Donoghue declined to comment to the media following his court appearance last Thursday and was unavailable for further comment at the time of going to press.
Cllr O'Donoghue has declared he will not stand for re-election at the local elections on June 5. His brother John has announced his intention to stand for Fianna Fail in the Killarney Town Council election.
- SIMON BROUDER sbrouder@kerryman.ie
