Councillor Seamus Treanor, has responded to what he describes as a ‘SIPO Witch Hunt’ after the body found, last week, that he breached standards in public office in his election material in the run up to the 2019 local elections.
He said, today, that he wasn’t surprised by the findings which were in response to a “complaint” by four members of the public whom he added, “took exception” to his 2019 canvassing leaflet.
Cllr Treanor pointed out that his legal team had proven “beyond reasonable doubt” that everything in his canvassing leaflet was correct.
He said it was his opinion that the findings of SIPO were pre-determined long before the hearing and he was advised not to co-operate with proceedings because “it was a witch hunt and he had the truth on his side”.
Cllr Treanor then pointed out that he believes SIPO is a “quango”, has stepped outside of it’s remit and endeavours to silence anyone who is opposed to uncontrolled migration, open-borders and Project Ireland 2040.
Meanwhile, The Standards in Public Office Commission found that Cllr Treanor was "inaccurate" in his assertions that "the unfair allocation of 22 houses to economic migrants in 2018 in Co Monaghan" - on the instructions of the Department of Justice - meant local people on the housing list for many years were pushed aside.
He added that houses were subsequently allocated to migrants whom, he added, "never spent a day on the housing waiting list".
Sipo said that the inaccuracy served to demonise an identifiable group of people and, in this case, also had the effect of generating a sense of grievance among another group of people.
The Commission also found that Cllr Treanor deliberately adopted "emotive, open-ended and accusatory language without reference to source or evidence".
It said a statement by the local area representative in his leaflet was without foundation and calculated to denigrate and anger.
