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Examination findings site.logo undefined Mel McWeeney

Examination findings



L30/13/1772

Dear Mr McWeeney

I Danny Smith Danny Smith danny.smith@ombudsman.gov.ie Peter Tyndall Peter Tyndall Peter Tyndall Office of the Ombudsman Irish Office of the Ombudsman The Irish Ombudsman Office of the Information Commissioner Standards in Public Office Commission Investigates complaints about public officials. 18 Lower Leeson Street Dublin D02 HE97 Ireland (1890)253238 (01)6395689 (01)6395674 (01)6395676 Dáil Éireann The Government of Ireland Kildare Street Dublin Ireland refer to your correspondence with this office Peter Tyndall Peter Tyndall Office of the Ombudsman Irish Office of the Ombudsman The Irish Ombudsman Office of the Information Commissioner Standards in Public Office Commission Investigates complaints about public officials. 18 Lower Leeson Street Dublin D02 HE97 Ireland (1890)253238 (01)6395689 (01)6395674 (01)6395676 Dáil Éireann The Government of Ireland Kildare Street Dublin Ireland in connection with a complaint against Longford County Council. Longford County Council Longford County Council Great Water Street Longford Co. Longford N39 NH56 Ireland 043 3343000 Longford Sports and Leisure County Longford Sports and Leisure Centre Public Sports Facility The Mall Longford Co. Longford Ireland 043 3346536 043 3346431 longfordsportscentre@eircom.net http://longfordsportsandleisure.ie/other/images/building_sm.jpg 1 Longford County Library Longford County Library Longford County Library Town Centre Longford Co. Longford Ireland 043 3340727 library@longfordcoco.ie

I have completed a detailed review of the evidence available in your case including the Council's report on the matter and the information you submitted in support of your case. I regret to inform you that based on the available information, I am not in a position to uphold your complaint. I have set out the reasons for my decision below.

Your complaint

Your complaint centres around your suspension from the Swimming Pool in Longford. Your contention is that this entire affair was a poorly thought up stitch-up, designed to inflict maximum distress on a vulnerable adult. During this period you suffered from the berievement of your mother and you believe that there was a viscious mob, determined to amputate your social circle by keeping you out of the swimming pool, with or without justification.

Subsequently you state that the line of command Francis Sheridan Frank Sheridan Francis Sheridan Longford County Council Longford County Council Longford County Council Great Water Street Longford Co. Longford N39 NH56 Ireland 043 3343000 Longford Sports and Leisure County Longford Sports and Leisure Centre Public Sports Facility The Mall Longford Co. Longford Ireland 043 3346536 043 3346431 longfordsportscentre@eircom.net http://longfordsportsandleisure.ie/other/images/building_sm.jpg 1 Longford County Library Longford County Library Longford County Library Town Centre Longford Co. Longford Ireland 043 3340727 library@longfordcoco.ie in Longford County Council up to County Manager closed ranks, by not corresponding with you, and continuing the "wall of silence" tactics during your dealings with them. You also added that:

  • No established process was followed by the Council when assessing your case
  • You weer never consulted or asked about the "incident", and as a result was not allowed to defend yourself
  • You were not informed "at each step" as stated by the Council
  • You were told by Cllr Peggy Nolan Peggy Nolan Peggy Nolan 43 Demense Longford Co. Longford Ireland 043 3345469 086 1701519 pnolan@longfordcoco.ie peggynolan@eircom.net Robert Troy Robert Troy Robert Troy The Manse, Castle Street Mullingar Co. Westmeath Ireland 044 9334857 01 6184059 087 7979890 robert.troy@oireachtas.ie http://www.westmeathexaminer.ie/cache/e405eba0c17c2a1ecf11a892d49e13fe.jpg http://cdn-03.herald.ie/news/article34449222.ece/dd3b8/AUTOCROP/w620/2016-02-13_new_16852477_I1.JPG https://i.ytimg.com/vi/aJ-lb4dWY-I/0.jpg http://www.irishexaminer.com/remote/media.central.ie/media/images/f/FiannaFailRobertTroy020516_large.jpg http://cdn.extra.ie/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Robert-Troy1.jpg http://cdn-04.herald.ie/news/article31466701.ece/5039b/AUTOCROP/w620/2015-08-21_new_12151376_I1.JPG Longford County Council Longford County Council Longford County Council Great Water Street Longford Co. Longford N39 NH56 Ireland 043 3343000 Longford Sports and Leisure County Longford Sports and Leisure Centre Public Sports Facility The Mall Longford Co. Longford Ireland 043 3346536 043 3346431 longfordsportscentre@eircom.net http://longfordsportsandleisure.ie/other/images/building_sm.jpg 1 Longford County Library Longford County Library Longford County Library Town Centre Longford Co. Longford Ireland 043 3340727 library@longfordcoco.ie that an apology was in the post only to subsequently be suspended
  • The Council has deliberately omitted information from his FOI requests, namely the names of those at the meeting where there was a unanimous decision to suspend him, and
  • The Council has not clearly ourlined what "the decision" consists of

Longford County Council's Report

On receipt of your complaint this Office, I wrote to Longford County Council and requested a detailed report from the Council regarding your particular case. A detailed report was sent to this Office by the Council on 12 February 2014 from Mr Dan Rooney Dan Rooney Dan Rooney (043)3341470 Knockahaw, Dublin Road, Longford Longford Town Council Longford Town Council Longford Town Council 2014-06-01 Noleen Rooney Noeleen Rooney Noeleen Rooney (043)3341470 noeleenrooney@gaelic.ie Knockahaw, Dublin Road, Longford Scoil Eimear Scoil Eimear Longford, Ireland scoileimear.ias@eircom.net (043) 3341188 Janet McWeeney Janet McWeeney Janet McWeeney Melview, Longford http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo147/padraic17/CD4DidiFotoFrame/May2008085.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo147/padraic17/CD4DidiFotoFrame/June-July2008450.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo147/padraic17/CD4DidiFotoFrame/June-July2008112.jpg https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CWlJefcWsAA-3V6.jpg Padraic McWeeney Padraic McWeeney Padraic McWeeney Teacher padraicmcweeney@yahoo.ie http://www.longfordleader.ie/resizer/750/-1/false/1508323984702.JPG--longford_community_games.JPG?1508323987000 http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo147/padraic17/CD4DidiFotoFrame/OctNov2008098.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo147/padraic17/CD4DidiFotoFrame/May2008103.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo147/padraic17/CD4DidiFotoFrame/P1310062.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo147/padraic17/CD4DidiFotoFrame/July2008067.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo147/padraic17/CD4DidiFotoFrame/June-July2008243.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo147/padraic17/Japan%202006/P7220397.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo147/padraic17/Japan%202006/P7220405.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo147/padraic17/Japan%202006/P7210342.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo147/padraic17/Japan%202006/P7220395.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo147/padraic17/Japan%202006/P7170166.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo147/padraic17/Japan%202006/P7170166.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo147/padraic17/Japan%202006/P7170184.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo147/padraic17/Japan%202006/P7160149.jpg St. Mels College Longford, Ireland stmels@stmelscollege.ie (043) 3346469 (043) 3346905 Scoil Eimear Scoil Eimear Longford, Ireland scoileimear.ias@eircom.net (043) 3341188 Longford Swimming Club Longford Swimming Club The Mall, Longford, Ireland , Secretary to Longford Sports and Leisure Ltd.

Some of the main details from this very detailed report were:

Reason for Suspension

Mr McWeeney was banned from the Swimming Pool because the Pool Manager received a number of complaints from other pool users regarding his conduct while in the pool. These complaints can be summarised as:

  • Bullying in the lane while swimming. This is best described by overtaking in the lane and then obstructing by cutting in front of the swimmer with subsequent verbal abuse. On one particular occasion the injured party in the incident complaint of being kicked on 2 occasions
  • When Mr McWeeney was spoken to by Pool staff in relation to these incidents he was abusive, rude and used bad language on a number of occasions.

Chronological List of Events

19 July 2012 - Letter from Secretary/Director of the Company to you informing you that the Council had received a number of complaints against you. In the letter the Secretary stated You are a valued customer to our facility but if we receive any more complaints of this nature we will be forced to refuse you entry to the facility. We trust with your cooperation with the Centre rules and staff, we can continue to serve your leisure needs.

23 July 2012 - Response from you to the Council letter of 19 July 2012.

17 October 2012 - Letter issued to you from Mr Dan Rooney, in response to your correspondence of 19 July 2012. This letter was issued following the Swimming Pool Management Board reviewing your previous correspondence. In this letter, the history of the case was outlined including the individual complaints made about your behavior in the pool. The letter requested that you consider the history of the case as outlined and asked you for your response in due course. Mr Rooney went on to ask you to provide your comments in relation to these matters in writing within the next 14 days. He added that the Pool Authority would take into account what you have to say, which appeared on the face of it to be serious. He also said that is it possible that the Pool Authority may make a decision to suspend you from using the Pool. Before the Authority were to give consideration to this they wanted to hear from you with any response that you wanted to make.

20 October 2012 - Response from you to the Council letter of 17 October 2012. In this letter you concluded that Mr Rooney Dan Rooney Dan Rooney (043)3341470 Knockahaw, Dublin Road, Longford Longford Town Council Longford Town Council Longford Town Council 2014-06-01 Noleen Rooney Noeleen Rooney Noeleen Rooney (043)3341470 noeleenrooney@gaelic.ie Knockahaw, Dublin Road, Longford Scoil Eimear Scoil Eimear Longford, Ireland scoileimear.ias@eircom.net (043) 3341188 Janet McWeeney Janet McWeeney Janet McWeeney Melview, Longford http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo147/padraic17/CD4DidiFotoFrame/May2008085.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo147/padraic17/CD4DidiFotoFrame/June-July2008450.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo147/padraic17/CD4DidiFotoFrame/June-July2008112.jpg https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CWlJefcWsAA-3V6.jpg Padraic McWeeney Padraic McWeeney Padraic McWeeney Teacher padraicmcweeney@yahoo.ie http://www.longfordleader.ie/resizer/750/-1/false/1508323984702.JPG--longford_community_games.JPG?1508323987000 http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo147/padraic17/CD4DidiFotoFrame/OctNov2008098.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo147/padraic17/CD4DidiFotoFrame/May2008103.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo147/padraic17/CD4DidiFotoFrame/P1310062.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo147/padraic17/CD4DidiFotoFrame/July2008067.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo147/padraic17/CD4DidiFotoFrame/June-July2008243.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo147/padraic17/Japan%202006/P7220397.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo147/padraic17/Japan%202006/P7220405.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo147/padraic17/Japan%202006/P7210342.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo147/padraic17/Japan%202006/P7220395.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo147/padraic17/Japan%202006/P7170166.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo147/padraic17/Japan%202006/P7170166.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo147/padraic17/Japan%202006/P7170184.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo147/padraic17/Japan%202006/P7160149.jpg St. Mels College Longford, Ireland stmels@stmelscollege.ie (043) 3346469 (043) 3346905 Scoil Eimear Scoil Eimear Longford, Ireland scoileimear.ias@eircom.net (043) 3341188 Longford Swimming Club Longford Swimming Club The Mall, Longford, Ireland and Mr Sheridan had fabricated in this case together and had contrived to cause you maximum distress, which they succeeded in that goal. You requested a Full Apology and a Withdrawal from the Council by the end of that week, 26 October 2012.

4 January 2013 - Letter from Mr Dan Rooney, Company Secretary to you stating that Longford Sports and Leisure Ltd had considered the complaints against you were justified and a decision had been made to suspend you from future use of the Leisure Centre with immediate effect.

The Council also attached copies of the Complaints made against you, the notes made by staff of Longford Sports and Leisure Ltd noting the separate incidents, the Terms and Conditions of Membership and Pool Rules.

Mr Rooney, Secretary stated in his correspondence to this Office that there is no formal appeals procedure in place. He added, however the letter sent to you of 17 October 2012 gave you an opportunity to put your side regarding the incidents but you failed to do so.

The role of the Ombudsman

The Ombudsman may examine actions carried out by certain public bodies, where there is evidence to suggest that maladministration (i.e., improper, incorrect or unfair administration) has occurred and the action complained of has had an adverse effect on the complainant. In the absense of evidence of maladministration and adverse effect, there is no basis for pursuing a complaint with a body.

The view of this Office

The Council wrote to you on 17 October 2012 outlining the separate complaints made about you to them by members of the public and they did ask you to provide your comments in relation to these matters in writing within the next 14 days. They also added that the Pool Authority would take into account what you had to say regarding these serious allegations.

The complaints made against you certainly appear to be legitimate, made by ordinary members of the public who were using the public swimming pool just like you. In your reply to the Council of 20 October 2012 you did not reply to the specific allegations or complaints made against you.

While there is no appeals procedures in place, I believe the Council acted reasonably by giving you an opportunity to put your side of events regarding the complaints before they made a decision on the complaints. They were entitled to believe that these complaints were genuine. I cannot find that the administrative actions in this case by the Council were unfair in how they dealt with your case, therefore I cannot uphold your complaint against them.

I have to balance the specific complaints made about you against your version of events. Clearly there are two accounts of what happened during your interactions with staff from the Council, yours and that of the Council staff. On the basis of the information available it is clear that, as things stand, there is a conflict between your position and the Council's in relation to this matter. I hope you will appreciate that this is one of those instances where there are two different versions of events and in the circumstances, it is not possible to establish without doubt which position is correct. This conclusion does not mean to imply that your version of events is not correct but rather that a detailed examination of the matter is unlikely to provide an objective basis to reconcile the conflicting accounts of what happened on the days in question.

Under these circumstances, I hope you will appreciate that where there are different accounts of events or a conflict of evidence, this Office would not be in a position to categorically arrive at a definitive conclusion in the matter.

Conclusion

While I appreciate that you may be disappointed with the outcome of my examination, based on all the information available to me, this Office can find no evidence of maladministration by the Council in this case.

I hope the above clarifies the position for you and I regret that, other than explain the position to you, I cannot be of further assistance to you on this occasion. Accordingly I am now closing your file.

Yours sincerely

Danny Smith
On behalf of the Ombudsman