Councillor denies charges of defrauding Galway council

A Galway county councillor who is charged with the misappropriation of local authority funds has pleaded not guilty to the charges and opted for trial by judge and jury.

Cllr Michael "the Stroke" Fahy, Caherduff, Ardrahan, appeared before Kinvara District Court yesterday charged with eight offences under the Larceny and Theft Acts.

Garda Supt Paul Mockler told Judge Joseph Mangan that the DPP would consider summary disposal of the case in the District Court in the event of a plea.

However, Cllr Fahy told the court he was pleading not guilty to each of the eight charges against him.

"I wish to be tried by judge and jury in the Circuit Court. I am not guilty, your honour," he stated.

Cllr Fahy faces two charges under Section 32 of the Larceny Act 1916, amended in 1990.

The first alleges that Cllr Fahy "did with intent to defraud, cause or procure €5,624.43 to be paid to Thomas Byrne, trading as Byrne Fencing, by Galway County Council for use or benefit or on account of Michael Fahy for works included in the sum of €5,624.43 to the approximate value of €748.13 in respect of a Community Involvement Scheme at Caherduff, Ardrahan, approved of by Galway County Council by falsely pretending that all of the works referred to and certified for payment in invoice 0020, dated June 2001, had been approved of by Galway County Council for the said Community Involvement Scheme".

The second charge alleges Cllr Fahy committed the same offence in 2002.

In this case, the amount to be paid was €7,055 and the value of that work was €3,702.

The remaining charges facing Cllr Fahy come under the Criminal Justice Act (Theft and Fraud Offences) 2001.

One of them, under Section 4 of the Act, alleges that Cllr Fahy "did attempt to dishonestly appropriate €7,523 from Galway County Council in 2003".

In the same year, Cllr Fahy is accused of making use of an invoice for the purpose of obtaining money by false pretences.

Judge Mangan extended time for service of a book of evidence and adjourned the case to March 13th.

Cllr Fahy, who is known locally as "the Stroke", resigned from Fianna Fáil pending the outcome of the Garda investigation.

He continues to serve as an independent councillor on Galway County Council and topped the poll for the last two elections.

He was first elected to the local authority 25 years ago.