The Social Democrats have expressed serious concern that Taoiseach Leo Varadkar\u2019s meddling in the planning process for a wind farm at the behest of Donald Trump left no trace in official planning files.<\/p>\n
The party\u2019s co-leader Catherine Murphy TD said:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Taoiseach has now changed his story about what actions he took after he was phoned by the US billionaire in relation to a proposed wind farm near his Doonbeg golf course. It now turns out that Mr Varadkar wrote directly to the chief executive of F\u00e1ilte Ireland, an agency which he had responsibility for as Minister for Tourism.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this correspondence, Mr Varadkar shared Trump\u2019s concerns about the impact of the wind farm and asked F\u00e1ilte Ireland to review the planning applications or development plan \u2018with a view to making observations\u2019 if it shared any concerns.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis gesture cannot be dismissed as being in any way benign. It is alarming that a Minister for Tourism would intercede at the behest of a wealthy individual with a state agency which he was directly responsible for at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cAccording to media reports today, F\u00e1ilte Ireland subsequently made a submission to\u00a0 planners in Clare County Council objecting to the wind farm project. Yet there is no trace in the planning records of Mr Varadkar\u2019s direct intervention with F\u00e1ilte Ireland, which has only come out now because of the furore over his remarks in the White House this week.<\/p>\n
Deputy Murphy added:<\/p>\n
\u201cThis kind of behind-the-scenes political intercession reeks of clientelism. Rather than putting the matter to rest, Mr Varadkar\u2019s latest version of events raises more questions that must be answered. Was the Minister\u2019s email to the head of F\u00e1ilte Ireland decisive in the agency\u2019s decision to subsequently make a submission objecting to the wind farm?<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven our history of corruption and political meddling in planning, how can such a high-level intervention be made without any note of it being recorded in the planning files? Does this mean that Ministers can \u2018contract out\u2019 their planning interventions to state agencies and leave no trace in the official records?<\/p>\n
\u201cThis saga highlights the need for much greater transparency in relation to planning. Yet seven years since the Mahon Tribunal\u2019s final report into planning corruption made recommendations in this area, the legislation has still not been enacted.\u201d<\/p>\n
ENDS<\/p>\n
18 March 2018<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Social Democrats have expressed serious concern that Taoiseach Leo Varadkar\u2019s meddling in the planning process for a wind farm at the behest of Donald Trump left no trace in official planning files. The party\u2019s co-leader Catherine Murphy TD said: \u201cThe Taoiseach has now changed his story about what actions he took after he was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[182,8,7],"tags":[15,44,325,169,329,330],"class_list":["post-454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catherine-murphy","category-latest-news","category-press-release","tag-catherine-murphy","tag-corruption","tag-donald-trump","tag-leo-varadkar","tag-mahon-tribunal","tag-planning"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n