A junior minister has said he broke no rules by receiving €30,000 in payments from Cork County Council during a year in which he spent six months travelling the world.
Christopher O’Sullivan, who was appointed a minister of state in January, was serving as a Cork county councillor in 2008 when he went travelling to South America, Australia, and New Zealand.
His travels were undertaken the year after he was co-opted onto the council to replace his father, Christy Sr, who was elected as a Fianna Fáil TD for Cork South West after serving until 2007 as an Independent county councillor.
Mr O’Sullivan Jr previously said he told his constituents in Skibbereen he was going travelling and they did not mind, but there is no public record of this.
He said all payments he received — including allowances and expenses — were in full compliance with the law.
Then councillor Christopher O’Sullivan at Cork County Hall on his election as county mayor in 2019. He was since elected TD for Cork South-West in 2020 and 2024, and named as a junior minister earlier this year. File picture: Denis Minihane
“Any allowances or payments over 2008 [were] in full compliance with the laws and regulations then in force, including the Local Government Act 2001,” he said. “My absence whilst travelling in the New Zealand, Australia and [the] South America region was under a continuous period of six consecutive months.”
Cork County Council has said the Local Government Act, 2001, provides — under Section 18(4)(a) — that “a person shall be deemed to have resigned from membership of a local authority, where the person is absent from attendance at any meeting of the authority for a continuous period of six consecutive months from the relevant date of their last attendance at a meeting of the local authority”.
However, while an elected member must attend at least 80% of meetings to receive the full allowances, the act also allows for absences of up to 18 months due to “illness, or, in good faith, for another reason”.
Council records show Mr O’Sullivan had the lowest attendance rate of all its councillors in 2008, attending 26 out of 70 meetings.
Despite this, he claimed travel expenses of €4,083, monthly allowances of €8,985, and his representational payment of €17,179.
While his attendance stood at just 37%, he claimed more in 2008 than four other councillors who had higher attendance records.
When details of general low attendance records emerged in August 2008, the then Fine Gael leader on the council, Michael Hegarty, was reported as saying:
If you can’t attend meetings, you can’t do the job properly and somebody else should be co-opted in your place.
Several Fianna Fáil party members have privately said they did not know Mr O’Sullivan had gone travelling in 2008.
“It is complete news to me to discover that despite him not being around for so long in his own constituency, he actually received the money he got,” a member said.
“Far be it from me to tell anybody what they should do, but I think a donation to a local charity might be an appropriate thing to do,” the member said.
The Irish Examiner asked Mr O’Sullivan a series of questions, including how long he travelled abroad, how he served his constituents while abroad in 2008, and how he told constituents about his travelling.
He said: “I was co-opted as an Independent councillor in June 2007, joining the Fianna Fáil party in 2009.
“I was subsequently re-elected post the local area elections in June 2009.
“Any allowances or payments over 2008 [were] in full compliance with the laws and regulations then in force. My absence whilst travelling was under a continuous period of six consecutive months.
“I am privileged and remain grateful to my constituents to be elected a TD in 2020 and again in 2024 and to be appointed a minister of state in 2025, representing the people of Cork South-West and serving nationally.
“The issue was dealt with in full 17 years ago.”