LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME

[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]


Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

Get weekly updates

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Paypal

Donate via Stripe

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

Councillor loses court bid to block SIPO inquiry 

Credit:  RTÉ | 4 Sep 2019 | www.rte.ie ~~

A county councillor has lost his High Court bid aimed at preventing an ethics inquiry being conducted over comments he made while being secretly filmed by RTÉ Investigates.

The action was brought by Monaghan Councillor Hugh McElvaney, who is the subject of a Standards in Public Office (SIPO) Commission investigation into whether he breached ethics when he was one of the subjects of the programme, which was aired in 2015.

In it, an undercover researcher posed as a representative of a foreign investment firm looking for support for a fictitious wind farm development.

In his judgment, Mr Justice Garrett Simons said he was satisfied “to dismiss the application in its entirety.”

The decision clears the way for the SIPO inquiry, which had been on hold pending the outcome of the High Court case, to proceed.

Cllr McElvaney brought High Court judicial review proceedings last year claiming the inquiry into him should be stopped.

Mr McElvaney, who was a former FG councillor but is now independent, had argued that he was entrapped by the RTÉ reporter, who would not be available for cross-examination at the hearing of the investigation, and that the inquiry was inadequate.

In a lengthy and detailed ruling, the judge said that the absence of the undercover reporter did not prejudice the statutory investigation being conducted by SIPO.

Mr Justice Simons said what the reporter said was not at issue as it was accepted what she had said was fictitious.

What was at issue the judge said was the response of the councillor to what was said.

He said SIPO would have to consider, for example, “whether the councillor’s response amounted to a request for remuneration or reward for anything to be done by virtue of his office as an elected member. ”

The judge added that the councillor’s objection to RTÉ engaging in an impermissible exercise of entrapment was “premature.”

SIPO, he said, has made it clear that it has not yet made a determination in respect of the entrapment objection raised by Mr McElvaney.

The matter was adjourned to a date in October for final orders.

Source:  RTÉ | 4 Sep 2019 | www.rte.ie

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Funding
   Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)
Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI TG TG Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook

Wind Watch on Linked In Wind Watch on Mastodon