Local authority engineer denies he misused position

A LOCAL authority engineer has denied an allegation that he used his official position to improve access to property he owned.

Mayo County Council engineer Kieran Lynn yesterday appeared before a public sitting of the Standards in Public Office Commission, which is investigating an allegation that he used his position for personal gain.

It concerns council works to remove a bend on a road at Cushalogurt near Westport at land owned by Mr Lynn.

Mr Lynn and his wife Anne McGreal bought the nine acres for some €76,000 in 2002. The site is on a road wide enough for one car and with a low sea wall on one side. The hearing was told that if two cars met, one could have to reverse some 150 metres.

In 2003 Ms McGreal applied for planning permission to Mayo County Council for two houses on the site, Diarmaid McGuinness SC, for the commission said. The application included a plan for a straightening of a bend in the road, he said.

Mr Lynn told the commission the land had been bought to graze horses but they wanted to see if they could get outline permission to build a house for Ms McGreal’s parents. Planning application by the previous owner on a different part of the site was rejected due to being considered a traffic hazard, the hearing was told.

Mayo County Council approved Ms McGreal’s plan for one house on the site, Mr McGuinness said. However, there were objections and the couple lost an appeal to An Bord Pleanála in 2004. A traffic hazard on the road was one of the four reasons.

In 2005 Mr Lynn asked three Mayo county councillors to allocate €5,500 to remove the bend and improve site visibility and safety. This was under an annual allocation councillors have for such projects, the commission heard. Councillors told a preliminary investigator for the commission that they treated Mr Lynn’s request the same as any other constituent and there was no question they would gain in future.

Mr Lynn gave the council the land needed for a €1 fee. The council completed the work in 2005, the bend was removed and a new entrance was put in to the site, the commission heard.

The issue of the complaint was whether the purpose of the works was to improve visibility or access to the site in a manner proposed in the 2003 planning applications, Mr McGuinness said. Eoin Garavan, for Mr Lynn, said the new entrance was for road safety and many local residents supported the works. The Bord Pleanála reasoning was “so insurmountable” that there was no prospect of future planning permission being granted, he said.

The couple made no further planning applications and swapped the land in June 2008 and made a €1,000 loss on it.

Mr Lynn asked that the commission take into account that the complainant was Ms McGreal’s estranged brother and defamation cases were pending between Mr Lynn and his brother-in -law.

The hearing was adjourned.