Appeal over 'road to nowhere' FOI scuppered as Council change reason for refusing request
Carlow Live formally appealed the FOI decision to the Office of the Information Commissioner
An appeal lodged with the Office of the Information Commissioner after a Freedom of Information request on the "road to nowhere" has been scuppered after Carlow County Council changed the reason for denying the request.
Carlow Live formally issued notice of appeal to the OIC earlier this year after an internal appeal at the Council upheld a decision to deny the request "as the records sought continue to be the subject of legal proceedings".
However, during investigations by the OIC into Carlow Live's appeal of the refusal, the Council retrospectively changed their reason for denying the initial FOI request.
The FOI sought details on the amount of interest paid by Carlow County Council between 2007 and to date in 2018 on a loan taken out to pay a High Court settlement to Nessleside Builders over the case the company took against the Council over the construction of the Eastern Relief Road.
Details were also sought on how much was actually borrowed to pay Nessleside Builders and how much is left to be repaid and how much of the actual loan (that isn't interest) has been paid off between 2007 and to date in 2018.
The Council denied the request "as the records sought continue to be the subject of legal proceedings".
In communications with the OIC, the Council stated that in January 2011, it raised loans totalling €8m in relation to financial settlements and costs associated with the Carlow Eastern Relief Road and the Carlow Main Drainage Scheme at Pembroke.
The Council stated that the loan principal was discharged in full by the Council between December 2011 and March 2017.
It stated that the redemption of the loan principal was addressed by the Local Government Auditor in his 2016 Audit report which is a public document.
The Council stated that there were multiple plaintiffs involved in the various High Court cases (some of whom were related parties) and it is not in a position to decouple the value of the compensation received by the named building company as a single entity.
Accordingly, "it is the Council's position that it does not hold records which fall within the scope" of Carlow Live's request.
The Information Commissioner's Office carries out independent reviews of decisions taken by public bodies on FOI requests.
Councillors were told that the loan would cripple the Council for 20 years but it was confirmed recently that the loan of €8m taken out in connection with the road controversy had been "redeemed" a number of years ago.
It has also been revealed that a "significant portion" of the construction costs of the Carlow Eastern Relief Road were funded by the Council from the issue of development contribution credits in the amount of €8.5m.
In 2007, RTÉ reported that the Commerical Court had been told that Carlow County Council gave orders for a building company to construct a relief road around part of the town, even though it did not own all of the land.
Only after the developer, Nessleside Builders, sued the Council was the matter settled but the road remains unfinished and has been dubbed locally as the "road to nowhere".