Partnership that owns Fás office includes tax inspector

ONE OF the members of the partnership that owns the development in Birr Co Offaly where Fás rents office space is a senior tax inspector.

Last week, The Irish Times published the names of the owners of the Birr Technology Centre development where Fás rents office space for 77 per cent more than an upper benchmark price for such property as calculated by the Comptroller and Auditor General, John Buckley.

In a recent report, Mr Buckley said the State training agency also agreed with the partnership that its building company would kit out the offices for €1 million without the job being put out to tender. The offices are being rented as part of the decentralisation programme and were to be the new Fás headquarters, but only 20 staff have moved there.

Charlie Phelan, a senior tax inspector with the Revenue who has an address in Kilkenny, is a member of the partnership as is his wife Ann, who is a pharmacist in Bagenalstown, Co Carlow.

The centre, which has other tenants besides Fás, is a public-private partnership with the Shannon Development Authority and qualified for urban renewal tax breaks.

The other members of the group include Thomas O’Connor and Leslie Moynan, directors of O’Neill Foley, an unlimited company associated with an accountancy firm of that name in Kilkenny, which acts for the property partnership.

Other members include Séamus Pierce, a bank manager with an address in Birr, former directors of Birr Meat Processors Pascal and Eleanor Campbell, with an address in Birr, and Brendan and Maeve Garry, directors of the Birr Building Company.

Mr Phelan has confirmed he is a member of the group. Asked if he saw any conflict with his work as a tax inspector, he said he did not want to comment.

The Revenue’s code of ethics says officials must ensure there is no conflict of interest between their duties in Revenue and any external interest.

The code states that if, in the course of official duties, an official is actually assigned, or comes across, a case in which they (or a relative or friend) have a personal or business interest, the nature and extent of the interest must immediately be disclosed to their manager. They must not deal with that case unless, in exceptional circumstances, their manager directs him/her to deal with it.

The code acknowledges that a member of staff may engage in another occupation, but Revenue officials must not engage in any outside activity (including any business activity) which conflicts in any way with official duties, impairs performance or compromises their integrity as Revenue officials.