CORK TD Ken O’Flynn has told SIPO that he was not speaking within the capacity of his role as a local councillor when he made comments about the Traveller community on Red FM radio. 

O’Flynn also argued that comments were “legitimate commentary” and within his rights to freedom of expression. 

O’Flynn appeared before the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO) in a preliminary application hearing today in order to request that the investigation into his comments not go ahead. 

The Commission is investigating whether O’Flynn, who was an elected local councillor at the time, broke the rules of the councillor’s Code of Conduct, or the Local Government Act, during an interview with Neil Prendeville about a report into the living conditions for Traveller children at a halting site in Ballyvolane, Cork City, in 2021, and in his subsequent posts on social media. 

His legal representative, Brian Leahy BL, argued that at the time that the Independent Ireland TD made the comments he was not doing so in the capacity of his role as a local councillor, though he was speaking as a “local politician”. 

This was contested by the SIPO legal representative, Conor Feeney BL, who said that the code of conduct the complaint relates to specifies that actions which are “inconsistent” with the proper functions of a councillor’s role within a local authority should be considered too. 

Feeney further pointed out that the City Council has a statutory role in relation to the Spring Lane halting site, and so therefore it could be considered that there is a “sufficient connection” between the subject matter of the interview and the role of a councillor. 

Leahy argued that though O’Flynn was speaking in his capacity was a local politician, he was not fulfilling any function of his role within the local authority. 

Leahy further said that the transcript of the interview before the Commission was incorrect. It shows that O’Flynn said: “What are they now, an ethnic minority”, where in actuality he said, “What are they now, lauded as an ethnic minority”. 

“Which could be better or worse depending on your view,” Leahy said. 

He said that Mr O’Flynn made the comments in an interview segment that dealt with the fallout from the Ombudsman for Children’s Office ‘No End in Site’ report, which criticised Cork City Council’s actions in relation to the conditions children were living in in the Spring Lane halting site in 2021, specifically damp accommodation, pest infestation, and illegal dumping. 

Leahy put forth that O’Flynn was chiefly taking issue with the way the report was conducted, as was his right to do. 

He said that Mr O’Flynn was “stating the facts” when he said that there is an accommodation issue within the Traveller community, that Travellers are an ethnic minority group, and that it was not his intention to offend anyone. 

O’Flynn clarified that after the complaint came through, he unliked a number of comments about Travellers on Facebook that were mentioned in the complaint. 

He said that at least four people – who are personally connected to him – have access to his social media accounts, so he could not be sure that it was him that liked all of the comments that were objected to. 

The Commission will now consider the primary application made by O’Flynn to dismiss the complaint, and that will determine whether the full investigation, or any investigation will go ahead. 

The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) previously criticised O’Flynn’s comments on the radio, saying that his contribution lacked balance and had the effect of stigmatising residents of the halting site.

However, an earlier complaint to Cork City Council’s ethics registrar was dismissed.

O’Flynn was one of only three councillors to vote against an €18 million Traveller accommodation upgrade for the Spring Lane site in 2024.