War of words between councillor and columnist

Sligo Independent County Councillor, Michael Clarke, has hit out at Irish Times columnist, Fintan O’Toole, for suggesting he should not have been allowed to run for public office because of his criminal record.

Mr O’Toole wrote an article in the Times on Tuesday calling Cllr Clarke a “scam-merchant, a conman and a fraudster”.

Cllr Clarke was jailed previously for his involvement in a scam where Department of Agriculture cheques were made out to non-existent farmers and cashed.

Mr O’Tooole was critical of Cllr Clarke’s recent motion at a Council meeting which suggested the re-zoning of lands at Carraroe for the provision of a new private hospital.

He suggests Cllr Clarke should not be in a position to make such decisions because of his past, but Cllr Clarke insisted today, in debating the issue with Mr O’Toole, that what he was involved in in the past was “over and done with”.