Ex-Wicklow clerk gets suspended sentence for corruption

A former Wicklow town clerk found guilty of corruption has been given an 18 month suspended sentence and fined € 10,000 at Wicklow Circuit Court.

Frank O’Toole (65) was also required to enter a bond of € 100 to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for a period of two years.

O’Toole was convicted last December of furnishing a letter to Patrick O’Toole, a Wicklow town-based solicitor and property developer, asserting that development levies of €64,840 had been paid, when this was not the case. The court heard the two men were not related.

The letter related to the construction of a mixed commercial/residential development at The Glebe, Wicklow, consisting of 10 apartments and retail space, with a value of € 2.75 million.

Passing sentence Judge Gerard Griffin said he took into account the gravity of the offence and that O’Toole had betrayed the trust of the people of Wicklow in his capacity of town clerk, the first citizen of Wicklow.

Judge Griffin said he did not think a custodial sentence was appropriate given there was no evidence that O'Toole had personally benefited from the offence and that he had cooperated at all times with the investigation.

He also noted O’Toole had a medical condition which could be aggravated by mental stress or a change in the man’s environment. O’Toole was also the sole carer of his his unwell brother, the judge noted.

Earlier Coleman Cody counsel for O'Toole stressed his client had not received any benefit from the issuing of the letter but in fact had been "thrown under the bus" when it came to prosecution.

He said O’Toole was “a broken and shamed man” who had to “walk the very intrusive gauntlet of the media” on the way to court.