A Sinn Fein Cavan County Councillor is calling on the local authority to remove a photograph of former cathaoirleach Sean McKiernan.
The photograph is on display alongside other Cathaoirligh in the Cavan County Council chamber.
Cllr Noel Connell has made the call in the aftermath of the former Fine Gael councillor and cathaoirleach waa jailed for two years and nine months for stealing €172,000 from a housing charity.
Seán McKiernan pleaded guilty to the theft of just over €172,000 from Navan Mental Health Housing Association in 2019 and 2020.
During a sentencing hearing in December, Trim Circuit Court heard that the 44-year-old used the money to pay male escorts and to procure drugs, including liquid ecstasy, crystal meth and cocaine.
Defence counsel Garrett Baker told the court that his client he had been involved in local politics and was a former councillor for Bailieboro between 2007 and 2014. He was the youngest cathaoirleach of Cavan County Council, having been appointed at 29, and served on the Fine Gael National Executive between 2002 and 2014.
The court heard that McKiernan has no third-level qualification. Mr Baker said that McKiernan had been hit hard by losing his council seat in 2014.
His drug use began in 2016, on a sporadic basis, but by the time of his offending he had "disappeared into a haze of substance abuse" and a by-product of that was his engagement of male escorts.
Cllr Connell who served alongside Mr McKiernan on Cavan County Council for a number of months is calling on the local authority to not honour a convicted criminal on the walls of the council chamber
