You couldn’t make it up.
Donegal councillor John O’Donnell, one of three figures implicated in last week’s damning RTE investigation into standards in public office in Ireland, will reportedly appear as Santa in a Coca Cola truck in his home village of Kilmacrennan this weekend.
O’Donnell has been under serious pressure since he was secretly filmed seeking payment for providing assistance for a fictitious wind farm company established by the RTE Investigations unit in a documentary that shocked and appalled viewers throughout Ireland last Monday.
Footage from RTÉ Investigations Unit: Standards in Public Office. Cllr John O’Donnell #RTEInvestigateshttps://t.co/XiqQ2Shg5M
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) December 7, 2015
Last week, protestors gathered outside a meeting of the Donegal County Council in which he was called on to resign, while O’Donnell himself claims he was “entrapped” by RTE and that his only interest was to secure investment and jobs for Donegal.
Despite the furore surrounding recent events, a report in Donegal Daily suggests that the embattled councillor will appear as Santa Claus on a Coca Cola truck which is due for a belated visit to O’Donnell’s home village of Kilmacrennan on Saturday night.
The report claims that O’Donnell has told friends he will make a public appearance dressed as Santa on the famous Coca Cola truck, which had been due in Kilmacrennan ten days ago in an event that had to be cancelled because of flooding in the area.
Reports suggest that O’Donnell’s appearance at the event is at the behest of local residents and the duty will be undertaken in his role of businessman rather than public representative.
Despite the damning footage shown in the RTE Investigates documentary and the subsequent furore that has followed, O’Donnell is said to have the support of voters in his native Kilmacrennan and in Downings, where he currently lives.
Cheers to Joanne Sweeney-Burke for sending this our way. If you have something you would like to share with us, send it to editorial@JOE.ie or find us on Facebook or Twitter.
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