Council spending watchdog has yet to meet after 10 months

A high-powered watchdog committee set up amid controversy last year to oversee the financial workings of Meath County Council has yet to meet. The scrapping of the audit committee, chaired by Cllr Brian Fitzgerald and including six other councillors, caused a political row last October. Members expressed shock and anger at the news that they were to be 'stood down' and that a new arrangement was being put in place. The fact that the new financial watchdog has never met since it came into being 10 months ago has angered Cllr Fitzgerald and Cllr Joe Reilly, both of whom were members of the old audit committee, the first such group to be set up in the Republic. This week, they roundly condemned the fact that the new group had not met, saying that it confirmed their initial fears that the group was a 'quango' which would act as a smokescreen for the abolition of any overseeing role of the council"s financial affairs. Under a little known piece of legislation - the Local Government (Business Improvement Districts) Act - which had gone through the Oireachtas in 2006, provision was made for new audit committees. However, whereas the old committees were made up entirely of members of county councils, the new arrangement provided for committees of either five or seven members, with the proviso that the committees would be weighted heavily in favour of 'external' members (those who are not members of county councils). Under the 2006 legislation, audit committees could have five members, to include at least three 'external' members and two serving or retired county councillors. If the councils opted for a seven-member audit committee, it would have to include four 'externals' and three serving or retired county councillors. The new arrangement had been branded as 'nothing less than a quango to protect officials from close questioning about council spending' and 'an insult to local democracy' by the two councillors. Last October, Cllr Fitzgerald had been preparing to set up a meeting of the audit committee when he was told by officials that it was being 'stood down'. He remarked at the time: 'A vital and irreplaceable function of local government is being given the axe treatment and it is the public who will suffer from this.' Cllr Fitzgerald said this week it was an 'absolute disgrace' that the new financial committee had not met. 'Where are the councillors who are members of it? Have they nothing to say about this affront to democracy? The old committee was doing its work perfectly well. Minister Gormley talks about giving more power to councillors but we had Mr Roche taking it away. After all, this is not our watchdog, it is the people"s watchdog and they are entitled to a more stringent scrutiny of council spending than they are getting at the moment, which is none,' said Cllr Fitzgerald. Sinn Fein councillor Joe Reilly said it was a shame the old audit committee had been abolished. 'We are ones who have to see that policy is implemented, we have to see that the money which the council gets is spent in a proper fashion. I am calling on councillors throughout the country to raise this urgent matter with their own representative body and the General Council of County Councils so that we can get some decent answers about this latest democratic deficit,' he said. Cllr Fitzgerald said: 'I set up the audit committee in Meath County Council and it had the power to call in officials from various departments and investigate and examine the spending of public money. This piece of legislation was slipped through the guardianship of former Minister Dick Roche,' he said. Cllr Fitzgerald described it as a shameful act which reflected badly on a Fianna Fail minister 'who knew exactly what he was doing'. He added: 'These external members of the new committees will be nominated by the county managers and the councillors elected by the people will form a minority on the committees. This has quango written all over it and is similar to what was done with these regional health forums which are nothing but talking shops and can hold nobody accountable for anything.' The independent councillor claimed that the Act had been slipped through very quietly. 'The old audit committees could call in outside expertise if they needed it and that was very satisfactory,' he added. The new arrangement was also criticised at the time by Fianna Fail Cllr Tommy Reilly and Cllr Joe Reilly. Cllr Tommy Reilly said that the new arrangement was 'another erosion of local democracy' and a kick in the teeth for elected members who would keep a close eye on the spending within the councils.