The results of an investigation into whether local authority officials in Kilkenny have been engaged in private work should not be made public, the chairman of Kilkenny County Council has said.
Mr Tom Brennan (FF) said the official report of the investigation would be a "private matter" although he did not believe any officials had been engaged in "nixers" since 1994.
Mr Brennan said he would not be calling a special meeting to discuss recent revelations but would wait for the outcome of the inquiries being conducted by the county manager, Mr Paddy Donnelly. A special meeting had been sought by an Independent member of the council, Ms Teresa Mullen.
Mr Brennan said a number of council officials had been given an ultimatum by Mr Donnelly in 1994 to give up doing "nixers" or to "take a career break" following an investigation into complaints that some were doing work for private clients. He said he was satisfied the practice ended at that time and the integrity of Kilkenny's planning system was not in question.
Yesterday's revelation in The Irish Times that Kilkenny Corporation's senior executive engineer, Mr Joe Gannon, dealt with planning applications by the Bank of Ireland while on a panel of house valuers used by the bank did not worry him because it had happened so long ago, Mr Brennan said.
He understood Mr Gannon had not been on the panel for some years and that was the end of the matter.
Mr Brennan said he expected Mr Donnelly to report on his inquiries to the March meeting of the council, before sending a report on the matter - in common with all other local authorities - to the Department of the Environment. But he would not be asking the manager to publish the report as it was "a private matter" between the council and the Department.
Kilkenny County Council has told The Irish Times that "a number of matters have come to the attention of the county manager" since checks began, in response to a request from the Department, earlier this month. It said it did not comment, however, on questions relating to individual members of staff.
