The former leas cathaoirleach of the Seanad, Liam Cosgrave, has been ordered to carry out 75 hours of community service for failing to disclose details of a £2,500 (€3,174) donation from the lobbyist Frank Dunlop in his official electoral spending returns.
Judge Katherine Delahunt said at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court yesterday that Cosgrave should carry out the community service within nine months. She said that if he defaulted, a six -month prison sentence would be imposed.
Cosgrave, a former solicitor, had last year pleaded guilty to knowingly furnishing a falsified statement where he failed to declare that he had received any donation exceeding £500 between May 15th and December 31st, 1997.
Judge Delahunt said that a report on Cosgrave's suitability for community service had been positive. She said that she was also taking into account how he had dealt with his plea and his co-operation with the court.
Counsel for Cosgrave, Luan Ó Braonáin, said his client had co-operated fully with the Probation and Welfare Service and that he was "ready, willing and able" to do community service.
Cosgrave declined to comment on leaving court.
The court had been told at earlier hearings that Cosgrave, who is the son of former taoiseach Liam Cosgrave and grandson of WT Cosgrave, the president of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State from 1922 - 1932, had been elected to the Seanad in 1989. Cosgrave had previously been a TD.
Under legislation, members of the Seanad were obliged to furnish statements in relation to single donations exceeding £500 or donations from a single source which had a total exceeding £500.
The court heard that Cosgrave had sworn a declaration in January 1998 that he had not received any single donation of more than £500 or one of an aggregate value exceeding £500.
This declaration was then submitted to the Standards in Public Office Commission.
It subsequently transpired that Cosgrave had received a cheque for £2,500 from Mr Dunlop during the 1997 Seanad election campaign.
Counsel for Cosgrave had told the court at an earlier hearing in February that his client had received Mr Dunlop's cheque during the election campaign which involved him visiting every local authority member in the country.
He said Cosgrave did not keep a record of the donation, which was spent on the campaign. Defence counsel said that Cosgrave had been a public representative for 21 years and a solicitor until 2003.
He said that there was no prospect of Cosgrave re-engaging in public life or resuming his career as a solicitor.
He said Cosgrave's offence had not been one of corruption or bribery.
However he said that as a result of the offence he had lost friends and been vilified in the media.
The maximum penalty for furnishing a falsified donation statement was imprisonment for three years or a fine of up to €25,000.
Judge Delahunt had said at the February hearing that Cosgrave's position as a legislator and member of the legal profession should have made him keenly aware of the ramifications of his actions.
