Request for public meeting to address unprecedented issues.

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(Sent 22nd of Nov)
Dear Board Member
I am writing to you the board of the KWETB to ask that we give serious consideration to how we should proceed in light of the Public Accounts Committee deep dissatisfaction with the stonewalling of the committee by the Chair and the Chief Executive.
I formally ask that we as a Board
1) Object to the holding any further meetings in secret and request the immediate distribution of minutes of secret meetings already held.
2) Depute the Chair , the Vice Chair and the Chief Executive as soon as possible and for the remainder of the investigation process. Also that for her own protection and that of the investigation that we depute the Corporate Services manger, solely in her role as minute taker, for the remainder of the investigation.
What we need as Board Members to be sufficiently informed
 
Each Board member has duties and responsibilities – the first is to be informed. If you are unaware of what happened at the Public Accounts Committee I would strongly urge you to view the discussion, in particular the conflicting views of the Public Accounts Committee and their legal advisors and the views of the Chair, the Chief Executive and their legal advisors around what could and couldn’t be accounted for, in their role as accountable persons for millions of euros of tax-payers money.
The behaviour of the Chair and the Chief Executive was described as ‘ unprecedented stonewalling’ of the committee, stonewalling that was based on little more than verbal advice which conflicted with the advice given to the PAC committee.
It is only a matter of time before attention quite rightly turns to the board as to what actions we as a board have taken to reassure ourselves as to the integrity of our response to the investigation and in relation to the governance issues highlighted. I have as you know been intensely uncomfortable about the holding of secret meetings and the blanket application of in-committee status to all discussions relating not just to the substance of the investigation but inexplicably applied to any board discussions in relation to how we should respond to the issues it raises. In-committee meetings are the exception in public bodies. It is unprecedented for secret meetings to become the accepted practice rather than the exception. That said, I believe a growing number of members are deeply uncomfortable with the pattern of secret meetings that has evolved since our first secret meeting. And we as board members must decide if we are going to proceed with one more secret meeting. In light of the bizarre behaviour of the Chair and the Chief Executive at the PAC committee I am very concerned about how we as a board will be adjudicated for accepting one more secret meeting.
It is a derogation of our responsibility as a board to leave all decision making in the hands of others. We are the ones that will be asked to account for our response in light of unprecedented behaviour and conflicting information provided to the Board. It is our duty to act with the highest levels of integrity and transparency as public interest directors to protect the tax-payers investment. That requires action on our part at the very least the seeking out of information.
We as a board have been provided with a wealth of information to be sufficiently aware of the issues around procurement and of how policies and procedures should act as a check on issues arising in the future. My fellow Board members,  we cannot unknow what we know and no amount of ‘independent’ advice can absolve us of the duty to ask the questions we are entitled to ask to ensure that we are informed so that the risk of impropriety around procurement and other issues is minimised for the future.  With the procurement issues in mind on October 12th I asked for the following information from the Chair
” 1) all contracts signed by Chairs or board members since January of 2014 
2) all tender opening panels participated in by Chairs/board members since 2014 
3) a list of all board members who have the authority to sign/co-sign contracts
4) a list of all executives who have signing authority at different levels
5) a list of all board members declarations of interest 
6) the register of all declarations of interest by staff “
 
I have not received any of the information requested. I believe that there remain key questions about which we must inform ourselves as a board. My understanding is that two signatures are required to sign major contracts , one from a board member and one from a member of the executive. That typically would be the Chief Executive and the Chair, however I have no confirmation of that. And others may also be delegated signing authority. It is unacceptable to me as a board member, worse still, as an Audit Committee member, that I have not   been able to ascertain clearly
  1. who has signing authority on the Board
  2. who has signing authority from within the Executive
  3. what mechanism is in place for selecting signatories
  4. which members of the board have participated in tender opening panels
  5. what mechanisms are in place for selecting board members for tender opening panels
 
As the seriousness of the issues we are dealing with starts to emerge we can no longer continue to ignore these questions. To not ask these questions is to put our heads in the sand and hope that no-one can therefore accuse us of impropriety. That is simply not the case.  We as a board need the answers to these questions in order to be able to ensure that the proper and effective policies and procedures are in place to prevent any issues being raised from happening in the future. This should in no way impact with the investigation by the Department 
Concerns about procedures to date 
They include but are not limited to
  • the withholding of information from the board including legal advice received to date
  • the uncertainty around who is solely and specifically providing legal advice to the board
  • interaction and communication between the investigator and the legal advisors provided by the KWETB’s insurers IPB
  • the absence of any minutes for all three secret meetings and I use the term ‘secret meetings’ advisedly as In-Committee meetings would have had minutes supplied in a timely manner
  • the failure of the minutes of the public discussion of the investigation to reflect the debate and procedures followed before going into committee
  • that the person recording the minutes of the discussions held in public and relating to the investigation has a senior role in relation to one of the areas being investigated
  • the failure of the Chair to inform the Board or the Audit Committee, until asked, about the participation of the KWETB at last Thursday’s Public Accounts Committee meeting.
  • the potential for conflicts of interest surrounding the Chair and Vice Chairs roles and their signing authority which relate directly to the areas being investigated and the concern about any potential conflicts of interest that might arise while the investigation is ongoing.
  • the failure of the Chair of the Audit Committee to report to the Board as requested at last Wednesday’s  Board meeting
Escalating Safety concern in relation to school building 
 
Last weeks misrepresentation by the Chair in relation to advice he had or hadn’t received has served only to heighten my concerns around the issues outlined above and others…
I have been made aware of serious safety concerns in relation to certification processes happening in the construction of schools buildings. I attach a letter from a Mr Sam Deacon of Drumderry Aggregate Ltd who has been trying to highlight serious safety concerns relating to a school extension for approximately 20 months. He has also made available a wealth of documentation providing evidence for his concerns. 
In light of the unprecedented and serious events unfolding, I am increasingly concerned about the safety of our children in buildings constructed or certified by companies at the centre of the CAG and the Departments investigation. The urgent focus now must be to answer the question how safe are our children and our staff in our schools? No stone-walling should be able to deter us from finding out the answer to that question.  
Summary 
 
Given the seriousness of the issues emerging and the need for full, transparent public accountability I respectfully request that we exercise our authority as a Board to
1) call a public meeting to vote on the motions proposed above, 
2) to ascertain independent legal advice provided specifically and solely for the Board(without discussing the substance of the issues being investigated by the Investigator) and 
3) to request or receive the information outlined in questions 1-6 above 
If we fail to exercise our duty to be informed and we continue to tolerate what is now acknowledged by the Public Accounts Committee as unprecedented stonewalling by the Chair and the Chief Executive, it is within the power of the Minister for Education to dissolve the Board. It is not too late for us to work together as a board to negate any future possibility or need for this.
Yours sincerely
Fiona McLoughlin Healy
Board member KWETB
Kildare County Councillor
086 8274433

Letter to the Public Accounts Committee – (19th of Nov )

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Dear Chair

I am writing to you in my role as member of the board of the KWETB to convey my serious concerns that the Chair of the KWETB mislead the committee yesterday when asked if the Chair had been advised by the Investigator, Mr Thorn regarding either his attendance and/or his responses to the Public Accounts Committee.
I was in attendance during the discussion yesterday together with two other members of the board. I was particularly shocked, perhaps in light of our attendance, by the Chair’s response, which indicated that he had not received advice in relation to his attendance. This was a serious misrepresentation of the KWETB Board meeting which had happened the previous day and consequently seriously misled the members of the PAC committee.
At Wednesday’s Board meeting, the Investigator, Mr Thorn had clearly articulated that he had
  ‘ made my views known. I didn’t think it was appropriate for the Chair, the Vice Chair or the Chief Executive to appear given the investigation going on’.
The Chair who had already informed the board when asked at the beginning of Wednesday’s Board meeting, that he would not be attending the Public Accounts Committee the following day, nodded in tacit agreement at the time, with Mr Thorn’s statement. Neither the Chair, nor the Vice Chair expressed any dissent from that opinion.  And it was apparent to me as a Board member that the advice was given and received to not attend the PAC discussion the next day. Further that if they did, they were not to answer any questions in relation to the investigation.
At yesterday’s meeting your esteemed colleagues and yourself raised important questions in relation to a number of areas about which I have deeply held concerns previously articulated at our Board meetings.
They include but are not limited to
  • the withholding of information from the board including legal advice received to date
  • the uncertainty around who is solely and specifically providing legal advice to the board
  • interaction and communication between the investigator and the legal advisors provided by the KWETB’s insurers IPB
  • the absence of any minutes for all three private, in-committee meetings
  • the failure of the minutes of the public discussion of the investigation to reflect the debate and procedures followed before going into committee
  • that the person recording the minutes of the discussions held in public and relating to the investigation has a senior role in relation to one of the areas being investigated
  • the failure of the Chair to inform the Board or the Audit Committee, until asked, about the participation of the KWETB at yesterday’s Public Accounts Committee meeting.
  • the potential for conflicts of interest surrounding the Chair and Vice Chairs roles and their signing authority which relate directly to the areas being investigated and the concern about any potential conflicts of interest that might arise while the investigation is ongoing.
  • the failure of the Chair of the Audit Committee to report to the Board as requested at Wednesday’s  Board meeting
Yesterday’s misrepresentation by the Chair in relation to advice he had or hadn’t received has served only to heighten my concerns around these issues and others.
I have been made aware of serious safety concerns in relation to certification processes happening in the construction of schools buildings. I attach a letter from a Mr Sam Deacon of Drumderry Aggregate Ltd who has been trying to highlight serious safety concerns relating to a school extension for approximately 20 months.  I have consulted with Mr Deacon and he has given me his consent to convey the attached letter to the Public Accounts Committee members. He has also made available a wealth of documentation providing evidence for his concerns. 
In light of the unprecedented and unsustainable events unfolding, I am increasingly concerned about the safety of our children in buildings constructed or certified by companies at the centre of the CAG and the Departments investigation. The urgent focus now must be to answer the question how safe are our children and our staff in our schools? No stone-walling should be able to deter us from finding out the answer to that question.  
I respectfully request a meeting with the Public Accounts Committee to correct the record of yesterday’s meeting and to brief the committee regarding my bone-fide concern about the safety of our children not just in the school referenced but throughout the sector.
Yours sincerely
Fiona McLoughlin Healy
Board member KWETB
Kildare County Councillor
086 8274433

Council introduce streaming or transcription of Council Meetings

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My motion for Monday (27th Oct) council meeting ‘ That the council follow the lead of other county councils around the country who have enhanced the transparency and accountability of their councils while protecting against misrepresentations of what happens in the chamber and introduce either streaming or transcription of council meetings.

Letter to the Taoiseach re Barry Walsh, the Disciplinary Committee and me

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Sent Monday 20th September 
Dear Taoiseach
Please find below correspondence sent to the National Executive and disciplinary committee relating to but not exclusive to the disparity between how complaints by Deputy O Connell about male members of FG have been dealt with versus how complaints by myself about male members of FG have been dealt with.
It also highlights the disparity between how complaints by male FG members about myself were dealt with versus how complaints by myself about male FG members were dealt with
I would welcome you expressing an opinion as you did in relation to Kate O Connell and her complaint re a FG member.
I eagerly await your response
Regards,
Fiona
Subject: Inconsistency in treatment of complaints by the National Executive and its Disciplinary committee- for distribution to the National Executive committee and the disciplinary committee

Dear Gerry

It was with much relief that I heard that Barry Walsh had resigned from his position on the National Executive, the governing body of the Fine Gael party. While I applaud Deputy Kate O Connell calling out bad behaviour by a Fine Gael member, she is not as you know, the first FG public representative to do so.
Last year, I was the subject of a complaint by a member of Fine Gael on behalf of the Fine Gael group in Kildare. Barry Walsh was one of those selected to sit in judgement of me for ‘bringing the party into disrepute’. My crime was that I had tried to hold the then Mayor to account for holding a meeting of group leaders at which he sought support from the group leaders to be allowed to block my future motions in the Council. The Mayor was a senior member of my Fine Gael group. While there are different versions of how the meeting happened in the first place and who participated in the discussion, it has since been accepted by the leaders of SF, FF and FG in Kildare County Council that a discussion was held during the meeting about blocking my motions. The meeting happened in November 2015 at a time when I was one of two FG general election candidates for the upcoming General Election in February 2016, just three months later.
Fine Gael received an official complaint from me last November before I had the Whip removed. I was assured by FG HQ that my complaint would be investigated with the same vigor as the investigation of the complaint against me. Six months later, frustrated by the lack of any progress re the investigation of my complaint I contacted the Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar. I informed him of the history of bad behaviour by Fine Gael members in Kildare ranging from blocking me unilaterally and without consultation from Council committees in which I had an interest to the groups ongoing, long-term failure to support my motions in the Council. I informed him of the school boys jokes about my name being on the cleaning cupboard in the Mayors office and of the sexist jeering about training provided by FG HQ during my first local election campaign.  I informed him that a FG Councillor had falsely stated on KFM that I had made no attempt to contact the Mayor before submitting a motion of no confidence in him for calling the secret meeting. I informed the Taoiseach about serious allegations made by a Council employee about a member of the FG group.
Barry Walsh had already heard the evidence of the bad behaviour by members of the Fine Gael group including the evidence provided by the Council employee. Very senior members of the party and the National Executive of FG have heard and are aware of the evidence of the long-term, persistent bad behaviour by certain members of FG in Kildare. On September 28th last,  I attended an ‘Integrity At Work’ conference run by Transparency international Ireland. Minister for Justice, Charlie Flanagan who had launched Deputy Heydon’s any my General Election campaign in 2016, spoke to the audience assembled, urging them to support people who speak out about wrongdoing at work.  I met with the Minister after his speech and thanked him for urging organisations to support whistleblowers. I informed him of what was happening in FG in Kildare and of my deep concern about the Executive’s failure to investigate my complaints about FG colleagues in marked contrast to the National Executive’s investigation of the complaint made by my male colleagues about me. I asked the Minister for Justice for help.  I have yet to receive any response.
Kate O Connell is not the first FG member to call out bad behaviour. And she won’t be the last. We need to ask why misogynist, bad behaviour is worthy of an immediate response in this case however, when similar bad behaviour over a longer period of time has been ignored, both in relation to Barry Walsh and in relation to FG members in Kildare?
All complaints of bad behaviour should be investigated and dealt with promptly . Having brought it to the attention of the Taoiseach and pressed for progress, at the beginning of August, almost nine months after I lodged my complaint, I was informed by the Secretary General of Fine Gael, Tom Curran that the ‘National Executive have come to a determination on your complaint… that the disciplinary committee do not intend to hold a hearing into the said complaint. However they are of the view that the matters raised point to a number of shortcomings’.  The letter went on to say that the ‘Disciplinary Committee intended to recommend to the Executive that a group of Councillors from outside Kildare be charged with the responsibility for devising protocols pertaining to the holding of group meetings. Such a protocol would deal with the calling of group meetings, conduct of such meetings, minuting of decisions and communications among members. The said group of Cllrs would also devise a protocol covering arrangements with other political groupings including the minuting of arrangements entered into. We would appreciate if you would become involved in such a group’ 
In effect, a group of Cllrs need to be brought in from outside the County to explain to the FG group in the Council, some of whom are in politics for decades, how to conduct a meeting and how to communicate with Cllrs within their group. Yet, the Cllrs whose behaviour had triggered the need for such a unique and unprecedented intervention and review was to attract no consequences whatsoever, not even an appearance before the Disciplinary Committee as had been required of myself. Twice.  In response I expressed my extreme disappointment at the obvious bias in the way complaints about others and complaints about myself had been dealt with. I asked for the identity of the Cllrs who are to be tasked with such a significant review and with whom I was being asked to collaborate. Two months later, I am still asking for the names of the Cllrs the National Executive are entrusting with the review.
Now that Barry Walsh has resigned from his position on the National Executive and from the Disciplinary Committee triggered by his inappropriate and misogynistic behaviour together with the evidently different response by the National Executive/Disciplinary Committee to complaints about myself versus the response to complaints about my male colleagues, I propose in light of Barry Walsh’s resignation that there is an urgent need for a review of complaints investigated by disciplinary committees in which Mr Walsh participated, for any evidence of unjust, inconsistent or biased outcomes . The swift response to Deputy O Connells complaint further highlights the damning and inexplicable failure of the National Executive to assign the same sense of urgency to dealing with my complaint about male FG colleagues. I request an explanation as to why the National Executive have been stalling on revealing the identity of the Cllrs that are to be brought in to advise senior FG Cllrs in Kildare as to how to conduct themselves around meetings, the minuting of meetings and arrangements entered into with other party’s and around their communications with fellow Councillors.  
I eagerly await your response
Kind Regards,
Cllr Fiona McLoughlin Healy

Review of the Twinning structure and function within the Council

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My final question at Tuesday (15th Nov) MD meeting, ‘Can the council provide an update on the review of the Twinning structure and function within the council as it relates to Twinning in the district including: the legal status of two new town Twinning arrangements agreed this year, contrary to legislation expressly prohibiting councillors from agreeing new town Twinning without first providing a costing for the proposed arrangement; details of the expenses  allocated to municipal district councillors to travel with municipal district town Twinning groups since 2014 ; who has signed off on public representatives Twinning expenses each year since 2014; what if any protocol or criteria were to be met by a councillor before travelling and/or drawing down expenses; how councillors have been selected to travel on municipal district town Twinning trips?
Here is the report issued by : Ms A. Scanlon, Administrative Officer, Community & Culture
Question 1: Can the council provide an update on the review of the Twinning structure and function with the council as it relates to twinning in the district.
Response: A draft policy is being developed and has yet to be agreed by the protocol committee a review will form part of this.
Question 2 : The legal status of two new town twinning arrangements agreed this year?
Response: There has only being one new twinning in 2017 which was agreed by the members at
the Kildare-Newbridge Municipal District meeting in January 2017.
The other 4 questions will be dealt with as part of the review.

Council provide update re: its function in relation to the Riverbank Arts Centre

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One of my questions at Tuesday (15th Nov) MD meeting, ‘Can the council provide an update re: the exercise of its oversight function in relation to the Riverbank Arts Centre (as per terms and conditions of funding) since  informed of governance and compliance issues addressing specifically in the update: the lower than mandated number of directors on the Board; the lack of diversity on the Board; the failure to cap the length of time of directors on the Board; the lack of transparency around Board member selection; the lack of transparency around the reporting mechanism between the Board and the council; the conflicting reports provided by the Arts Centre Chairperson and the council’s Director of Community re: the role of the county librarian in relation to the Arts Centre; the failure of the council to respond to queries re: whether conflicts of interests were declared in relation to the project design and/or in relation to any other project or job allocations?

Report Issued by: Ms S. Kavanagh, Director of Service, Economic, Community and Cultural,  ‘The council is satisfied with the responses provided by the Board of Management of the Riverbank Arts Centre. The responses were also circulated to the Kildare-Newbridge Municipal District members on the 1 of August 2017. The councillor has asked on a number of occasions about the role of the County Librarian and why I invited the County Librarian to attend the Kildare-Newbridge Municipal District meeting; I answered the question in my email to the members of 1 of August 2017. In relation to the charge that there has been a “failure of the council to respond to queries regarding whether conflicts of interest were declared” ; this charge is absolutely refuted. The question was answered by the Board of Management in their response to the members (my email of 1 August 2017 refers).
Development

Review of the Town Hall by its Management Committee

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My final motion at Tuesday (15th November) MD meeting ‘ That the council present to councillors the long overdue review of the Town Hall by its management committee so we can get on with the more effective and efficient marketing and pricing of this important community amenity as called for earlier this year, with an eye to delivering both social and financial dividends for the community and the taxpayers who have funded it.

Here is the report issued by: Ms A Scanlon, Administrative Officer, Community & Culture. ‘As agreed a review would be carried out after a trial period of one year. As 2017 has come to an end, the review is being finalised and will be presented at the December meeting.

Plan for delivering the Town Design Statements for Newbridge and Kildare Town

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Another of my motions at at Tuesday (15th November) MD meeting  ‘That the Municipal District Manager outline his plan/schedule for delivering the Town Design Statements for both Newbridge and Kildare town.
Here is the Report Issued by Mr T McDonnell, Director of Service, Housing and Corporate Services,  A draft schedule for delivery as follows:
– Preparation for a Town Renewal Plan Brief for Kildare Town and a Health Check/Urban Design Analysis and Town Renewal Plan Brief for Newbridge in November.
– Tender to the Urban Design Framework early December with a tender period of 3 weeks and a return date for the end of December.
– Tender assessment and pre-qualification of the successful Design Team – January 2018.
– Anticipated appointment of the Design Team – February 2018.
– Timeline for completion of the Kildare Town Renewal Plan (including consultation) is approximately 3 / 4 months and an estimated timeline for completion of the Health Check and Town Renewal Plan for Newbridge is 5/6 months (including consultation).

Traffic Management Plan for Kildare Town & Newbridge

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My first motion at Tuesday’s (15th November) MD meeting, ‘In light of worsening traffic chaos, that we get an update on the status of traffic management plan for Kildare Town and Newbridge Town and a plausible explanation for the ongoing delay. In the absence of a delivery date, I reiterate the request to see the current iteration of the plan however far from agreement.
Report October 2017: The members will be updated on continued discussions with the National Transport Authority (NTA) at the municipal district meeting. The outline of the proposal submitted to NTA proposed using a multi-disciplinary team, with the main objective being the creation of an enhanced environment with multi-functional
streets, maximised connectivity, permeability and ease of movement. The outline proposal and associated draft tender documents have been provided to CouncillorMcLoughlin Healy. The Roads Department will copy the draft documents (circa 70 pages) to all members if required.
Update November 2017: The Director of Services Transportation met with Mr. Hugh Creegan, Director of Transport Investment and Taxi Regulations in the National Transport Authority within the last 2 weeks in order to outline the frustration being experienced by the officials and elected members in Kildare County Council in regard to a number of Kildare County Council projects being delayed, including the proposed Traffic Management Plan for Newbridge. Mr. Creegan outlined his difficulties with funding, in addition to the fact that recent experiences with Traffic Management Plans (TMP)’s funded in other counties had not delivered the type of blueprint that provided value for money or tangible outcomes. Therefore Mr. Creegan offered, as an alternative, that he would assign one of the NTA’s Strategic Planning staff to develop a Transport Plan for Newbridge. The initial desktop analysis and information gathering has commenced, and on the 30 November the NTA staff member and the head of the NTA Strategic Planning Section will meet with the Director of Services and the Senior Engineer in Roads to outline and agree a series of workshops and workplan that ultimately will produce a Transport Plan for Newbridge.
The members will be kept updated on progress. A review of the data from the existing Kildare town TMP has not been carried out and therefore the Roads Department is not in a position to provide a report at this time. The replacement of the Senior Executive Engineer (Traffic) has been requested and is awaited.