THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE of Longford County Council is to face a hearing into an alleged breach of ethics.
Tim Caffrey will appear before the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO) hearing next Monday over an alleged failure to disclose the fact that he owned a house which was being bought with council funds.
The hearing will revolve around whether or not Caffrey failed to alert councillors to the fact that he owned a home which was being purchased by the housing body Muiriosa Foundation.
In 2013, the council applied for, and received, a €250,000 grant from the Department of the Environment to purchase the house in Cloondara.
The council at the time claimed that it was not involved in the identification of the property.
The Irish Independent reported in October 2013 that Caffrey claimed he had immediately declared ownership of the house and was not involved in the grant application.
The paper further reports that the council had valued the house at €250,000, while the Muiriosa Foundation had valued the home at €110,000.
Caffrey has previously claimed the proposed sale, which collapsed, was carried out in a transparent manner.
A request for comment on today’s announcement of the SIPO hearing went unanswered.
The hearing will be held in public next Monday at 10am in SIPO’s Dublin offices.
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