Wexford council chief to ‘robustly defend’ claim he breached code of conduct

The Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo) is to hold a hearing into allegations against the chief executive of Wexford County Council later this week.

Sipo said it was investigating allegations that Tom Enright breached the Local Government Act 2001 and the Code of Conduct for Employees.

A hearing into the alleged contraventions, which Sipo provided no details about the nature or origin of, is to take place on Friday.

Sipo’s procedure is for a preliminary inquiry to be held into any complaint or allegations received. This is followed by a determination on whether a public hearing should take place.

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Mr Enright, an engineer by profession, has been chief executive of the council for seven years. He is also a board member of the Local Government Management Association.

A spokesman for Wexford County Council said Mr Enright welcomes the opportunity to “robustly defend” the allegation that he breached the Code of Conduct for Local Government Employees.

“Mr Enright has been advised that as this process is ongoing it would be inappropriate for him to comment further at this stage,” the spokesman said. “He intends issuing a full and detailed statement in respect of this matter once the process has been completed.”

Sipo is chaired by former High Court judge Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan and its other members are Comptroller & Auditor General Séamus McCarthy; Ombudsman Peter Tyndall; Clerk of Dáil Éireann Peter Finnegan; Clerk of Seanad Éireann Martin Grovers; and former senator Geraldine Feeney.