Galway county councillor Michael Fahy must go to prison next week after he was refused bail yesterday by the Court of Criminal Appeal.
The bail application arose after Fahy (56), Ardrahan, Co Galway, was sentenced to 12 months in prison and fined €75,000 for fraud and attempted theft.
Fahy has lodged an appeal against the conviction and sentence and his counsel, Martin Giblin SC, yesterday appealed against the refusal of bail pending that full appeal hearing.
Mr Justice Joseph Finnegan, presiding, and sitting with Mr Justice Liam McKechnie and Mr Justice Brian McGovern, said the special or exceptional circumstances required before the appeal court may grant bail to a convicted person did not apply in this case.
Mr Giblin said the sentence "bordered on harshness" and his client's case for bail was a strong one on several grounds, including that most of his sentence would be served before an appeal could be heard by the appeal court.
Certain evidence introduced during the trial by the prosecution was prejudicial against Fahy, was not contained in the book of evidence and the defence team had been "ambushed", Mr Giblin also said.
Fahy would also lose his seat on Galway County Council because of local government legislation requiring any elected member who received a jail sentence of more than six months to be replaced by somebody else.
Bernard Condon, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, objected to bail. There were consequences for every person who was sentenced to jail, be they professional or personal, he said.
The issue of prejudicial evidence was considered by an experienced trial judge who had decided not to dismiss the jury, he added.
Fahy's sentence is not due to begin until next week as he was given time to put his affairs in order, including to address the welfare of his elderly mother with whom he lives.
Fahy was first elected as a Fianna Fáil member of Galway County Council in 1979, but he resigned from the party in 2004.