Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday I raised an issue in the Seanad of a report that was covered in The Irish Timesabout Donegal. It is an unpublished report called the Mulcahy report and is a report into very serious allegations of corruption in planning in Donegal. The report is on the Minister's desk. I undertook yesterday to seek further details about it. I am now satisfied it has been on the Minister's desk since June 2017. It has very serious implications. It is in the public domain. It suggests with regard to colleagues who submitted applications that there was interference. There were suggestions of forgery of signatures to do with planning. There was a suggestion that major planning documents were destroyed and that recommendations of planners were destroyed and done away with. This came out through a whistleblower who formally made these complaints.

Two investigations were established into these matters. A final report called the Mulcahy report was delivered to the Minister. It is very important that we have the Minister in at some point in the very near future to discuss this report or put it into the public domain. It is unfair for Donegal County Council, its staff and members to have this report hanging over their heads. I ask that as soon as we can some sort of statement can be issued. The Minister might give us some indication of his intentions and how he intends to deal with this report but, more importantly, what recommendations will come out of it.