Corrupt councillor ‘betrayed the people’

Former Fine Gael councilor Fred Forsey has been sentenced to six years with two suspended for taking bribes from a developer.

The former deputy mayor of Dungarvan was convicted last month of taking €80,000 in bribes in exchange for lobbying his colleagues to rezone agricultural land for residential and industrial use.

Forsey, aged 43, was caught when his estranged wife went to gardaí and told them about suspicious payments her husband had received. He later attempted to disguise the bribes as a loan by forging a backdated loan agreement with the developer.