O’Brien welcomes Council vote for greater political transparency

14th January, 2015

I have been pushing for this for over 2 years now, so I welcome the decision of the Council to allow for publication of Councillors financial, business and property interests on the Fingal County Council website . Two years ago I requested the former County Manager to publish the information but the request was refused. Last year I also requested the information under the Freedom of Information Acts and that request was also refused.

Following a question by my colleague Cllr. David Healy late last year the proposal went to a vote at the meeting of Councillors on Monday. While the vote was passed I have to say I was surprised that 14 members voted against the proposal. I believe that it is vital the public has full access to the information on financial, business and property interests of all elected politicians, not just TDs. History has taught us in Fingal that it is crucial that politicians are held to the highest standards of integrity and transparency.

I have already asked the Chief Executive to move swiftly now and publish the financial interests of all Councillors on the Council’s website. It is an aberration that such information is not already on the Council’s website unlike Dublin City Council.