Councillor issues warning over declarations and donations

A councillor has threatened to expose any elected representative on Donegal County Council who does not submit valid statements regarding his or her donations or declarations of interest for 2022.

The matter came up at Monday's meeting of the council when councillors were asked to note obligations under the Local Elections (Disclosureof Donations & Expenditure) Act, 1999 as amended and to submit a donation statement for 2022 by January 31, 2023. They were also asked to note obligations under (Part 15) Local Government Act, 2001 Ethics Framework to submit declaration of interest for 2022 by February 28

Independent councillor Frank McBrearty Jnr said he wanted to make sure everyone complied.

"I am requesting that elected members of this council produce all their assets which are not being disclosed by some elected members or I will expose it publicly from the information I have from my investigations."

Cathaoirleach Cllr Liam Blaney said members were obliged to disclose all that information every time they filled in the form adding he was "quite sure" that they were aware of that themselves.

He added he also wanted to point out that there was a part in one of those forms concerning the Code of Conduct.

"Everyone is asked to read it, sign it and send it back to let the council know you are aware of what the Code of Conduct means," he said.