Fine Gael is running an ex-priest, former Tory councillor and fraudster in the local elections.
Kildare man Tom Dempsey was found guilty of fraud and embezzlement of up to €63,000 from the Eastern Health Board 49 times between 1990 and 1992.
He has also been a priest and was elected a Conservative Party councillor.
His rivals are concerned about his past, with Social Democrats candidate Chris Pender saying it showed what type of people the party are selecting.
Fine Gael said: “Mr Dempsey is an upstanding party member in Newbridge, who is well-known and respected in the area.”
Mr Dempsey got a job with the Eastern Health Board in 1990 after being granted a year’s leave of absence from the priesthood where he was a curate in the Newbridge and Naas areas.
He pleaded guilty to fraud in 1994 on charges related to £5,000 he defrauded from the Eastern Health Board, which was a sample charge of a wider sum of IR£63,000 which he had embezzled.
Proud mum Betty Walsh and son Kieran both running in local elections in Limerick and Clare
Mr Dempsey was convicted and given a 12-month suspended sentence.
He brought £22,000 with him into the court and subsequently paid back all he had stolen. Judge Gillian Hussey slammed the Eastern Health Board in her ruling.
She said she was reluctant to take the cash from Mr Dempsey and hand it over to the board after seeing how bad they were at minding money when Mr Dempsey had worked there.
Ms Hussey added: “It grieves me to take it. I don’t think they are fit to mind it.”
Mr Dempsey later moved to the UK for some years where he was elected
for the Tories on to Tanbridge local council in 2012.
Mr Pender, who is a candidate in the same area, said: “There are comments from Fine Gael saying it is his past, he’s apologised and that he’s reformed.
“I understand everybody has a past, I really do, but the big thing for me is you have somebody who is a former priest, has been convicted of fraud and is now running for Fine Gael.
“Then you have somebody like me who in 2014 was literally homeless, living on the streets in a tent, running in the local elections. It just shows the massive difference in the candidates Fine Gael are running and the candidates parties like the Social Democrats are running.”
Mr Dempsey was contacted for comment.
