South Dublin County Council is to carry out an investigation into an offer of Ryder Cup tickets to some local councillors from a property developer.
At least six of the 26 councillors in South Dublin County Council were offered the tickets by a representative of Menolly Homes, the company that built Ladycastle, an upmarket development in the grounds of the K Club where the Ryder Cup is being held.
Those offered tickets were from Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Sinn Féin and Labour, and one councillor, Cllr Máire Ardagh (FF), said publicly that she would accept them.
Menolly Homes does not currently have an application lodged with South Dublin County Council, but proposals for a development at The Gondola, Newcastle, Co Dublin, consisting of houses, apartments and a hotel, are at a pre-planning stage.
Following the offer of tickets, first publicised by the Tallaght Echo, the council forwarded copies of the code of conduct for councillors, based on legislation in the Local Government Act 2001, to all 26 members. Gary Keogh, senior executive officer with South Dublin County Council, said the code states that every care should be taken by councillors to ensure that any acceptance of hospitality does not influence them, and could not reasonably be seen to influence them.
"In accepting such hospitality [ tickets], a councillor could be seen to be influenced," he said.
"The act lays out penalties for accepting such gifts and they could lose their position if they are found to be in breach of the code."
He said that some councillors might have interpreted the acceptance of tickets as not being in breach of the code and they would be talking to the councillors involved to establish the substance of the case. Cllr Shane O'Connor (SF) told The Irish Times that he was contacted three times by a person representing the company and offered tickets for the event, but refused them.
"Developers are entitled to meet with councillors, but our protocol is that they meet us in the South Dublin County Council offices with another council member or official," he said.
Labour Councillor Alex White, who was not offered tickets, said it was arguable that accepting them would be a breach of the code of conduct and he would be calling on the council to clarify the issue.
"Common sense would dictate that you would shy away from it," he said. "It's about doing what's right and being seen to do what's right." At party headquarters, Fine Gael and Labour both said they would leave the decision up to their councillors' judgment.
The Green Party said they had a very strict code of conduct against accepting any corporate donations, including free tickets, and Fianna Fáil said they expected all of their councillors to meet their obligations under the Local Government Act.
