Monaghan county councillor Hugh McElvaney, who once asked an undercover RTÉ reporter for payment to assist with a prospective planning application, has been named on the tax defaulters' list.
Mr McElvaney, of Corcaghan, Co Monaghan, described as a “director/publican”, was named as having underdeclared his income tax by €29,000. He was charged €10,000 in interest and a further €8,000 in penalties, bringing his total bill to almost €50,000.
It is described in the Revenue Commissioners’ tax defaulter’s list published this week as a “Revenue investigation case”.
In 2015, Mr McElvaney featured in an RTÉ report in which he sought payment from an undercover reporter who said she was seeking to promote a windfarm project for which planning permission was needed.
While being filmed by a concealed camera, Mr McElvaney appeared to solicit money for his assistance. Mr McElvaney had been approached by RTÉ because he had failed to register significant business interests as required by ethics laws.
When contacted by an undercover reporter posing as a representative of a company wishing to establish windfarms in Monaghan, he made it clear he was willing to offer his assistance in return for payment.
“Are you going to pay me by the hour or the job?” he told the reporter.
Coming to Ireland
The undercover reporter said that representatives of the company would be coming to Ireland and could meet him.
“And you will have plenty of sterling with you?” Mr McElvaney asked. “You need to sweeten the man up. You know what I mean.”
Asked how much he was looking for, Mr McElvaney said: “Ten grand would be a start.”
He also said: “The more that’s in the bag, the keener I will be.”
He also warned: “Don’t tell anybody else our terms and conditions.”
Mr McElvaney resigned from Fine Gael in the aftermath of the programme, but remains an independent councillor.
He claimed to be aware he was speaking to an undercover reporter and was playing along to “expose” RTÉ. He said he had “lured them into their trap” by playing along with the undercover reporter.
Mr McElvaney has been mayor of Monaghan four times and has been elected to the county council nine times. From 2009 to 2014 he was chairman of the councillors' representative body, the Local Authority Members Association.
Mr McElvaney could not be reached for comment on Thursday, despite efforts to contact him via telephone and email.
