Adviser under investigation after complaints of “racist and xenophobic” election material

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An independent Co Monaghan adviser is under investigation following complaints that the election materials he distributed in 2019 were “racist, dangerous and xenophobic”.

The Public Service Standards Commission (Sipo) held a hearing on Monday following complaints against Councilor Séamus Treanor and the referral of the case to Sipo by the council.

The investigation seeks to determine whether the material distributed during the local elections of May 2019 violated the code of conduct for councilors and the articles of the 2001 Law on Local Government.

In election materials, Mr Treanor said he had no problem with people entering the country if they could support their families and obey the laws and customs of the country.

“Unfortunately, our political elite in Ireland – FF FG SF – and their masters in Europe have encouraged uncontrolled migration to this country,” he said.

The councilor’s election documentation indicated that up to 92 percent of asylum seekers entering the country were “fake” and that they “abused our system of free legal aid to extend their stay at enormous cost. for the taxpayer ”.

The adviser also said he strongly opposed the entry of “criminals” into the country without background checks, and the allocation of 22 houses to “economic migrants” who had “never served a job. day, ”on the Co Monaghan accommodation list. He said it was done on the instructions of the Department of Justice.

The commission hearing was approached by legal adviser Brian Gageby BL who said there had been complaints that the material was “racist, dangerous and xenophobic”.

He said Mr Treanor has the right to free speech and that it is not for Sipo to decide whether opinions are good or bad, but rather whether they violate the code.

The commission could examine whether the assertions were factually correct as well as the tone of the material.

Mr Gageby explained how the claim in the document that EU citizens could apply for social assistance benefits 72 hours after arriving here was incorrect.

The hearing heard testimony from John Murray, Director of Monaghan County Council Services, that the Department of Justice had ordered to house 90 refugees from Syria under the Irish Refugee Program.

Twenty families were housed, including 11 under the approved housing program and nine under housing assistance.

No city council had been used. It was correct that “11 locations” on the housing list had been reduced so that refugees could be accommodated using the approved housing program. The people accommodated were refugees and not economic migrants.

Mr Gageby also gave figures at the hearing indicating that the 92 per cent figure given by Mr Treanor for allegedly fictitious asylum claims was higher, and in some cases very significantly higher, than official estimates. .

He said the adviser “has the right to express unpopular views,” but that the commission could consider whether the inaccuracies in the material, combined with his tone, constituted a violation of the code and the law.

Lawyer Barry Healy, advising him, said his client’s views were “an issue for his political opponents to correct, not Sipo.”

At the start of the hearing, the board ruled that lawyer Brian Carroll could not address the hearing on behalf of Mr. Treanor because Mr. Carroll was not on the list of attorneys maintained by the Legal Services Regulatory Authority.

The chairman of the commission, Judge Garret Sheehan, said Mr Healy would have two weeks to make written submissions, after which Mr Gageby would have a week to respond. The meeting was then adjourned.

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