Friends and neighbours of Galway Councillor Michael Fahy have this evening expressed their shock and disappointment at the sentence handed down to him at the Circuit Criminal Court in Galway today.
Mr Fahy, a former Fianna Fáil and now Independent member of Galway County Council, was given a 12-month prison sentence and fined €75,000 for the misappropriation of council funds.
Spokesperson Gary Higgins - a local shopkeeper in Labane, near Mr Fahy's home - said people in the area were shocked and dumbfounded by the handing down of a jail sentence for what they regarded as 'a very minor offence'.
He said Michael Fahy had been an outstanding local councillor for the past 29 years and they believed he should not have to serve a prison term.
Mr Fahy's supporters are organising a petition against what they describe as the severity of his sentence.
Cllr Fahy from Ardrahan had been convicted of obtaining €7,000 by false pretences in 2002 and the attempted theft of €7,500 in 2003 as well as five other charges of deception and false accounting.
He denied all the charges.
Judge Raymond Groarke said Cllr Fahy had abused his position and had brought disgrace onto himself and his family by what he had done.
He said he had also insulted and sullied the reputations of hundreds of councillors who carried out their work honestly.
He was also guilty of attempting to implicate totally innocent people in his theft and fraud. What he had done displayed premeditation and cunning and he showed no sign of remorse, the judge said.
Judge Groarke refused Cllr Fahy's legal team request to appeal the sentences.
