FOR THE LAST two weeks, mystery and rumours have swirled over the identity of a former TD who provided a character reference for former government adviser Daniel Ramamoorthy.

Ramamoorthy was convicted of the sexual exploitation of a 13-year-old boy at a Christian children’s camp in March of last year. He also pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing child sexual abuse material, referred to in law as child pornography.

The case appeared back in court this month as the 40-year-old sought to appeal his sentence of two years and four months for the sexual exploitation conviction, for which he continues to maintain his innocence.

In the Court of Appeal Judge John Edwards noted that numerous character references had been submitted on Ramamoorthy’s behalf, including one from a TD.

It was “quite extraordinary”, he said, that not a “single one” mentioned the victim or the “vile nature” of the offending.

The following week, Ramamoorthy’s appeal was dismissed. Lawyers representing the Irish Times requested access to the testimonials but were refused. The judge refused to reveal the identity of the TD and also clarified that it related to a former TD.

Daniel Ramamoorthy was convicted of sexually exploiting a teenager. irishphotodesk.ie irishphotodesk.ie

Yesterday afternoon, on foot of numerous and persistent media queries, former Fianna Fáil TD Jim Glennon issued a statement via a PR firm to confirm that he was the former TD in question.

“The crimes committed by Mr Ramamoorthy were vile and of the most egregious nature. I offer my unreserved apology to the victim and to their family. Writing the letter was an error of judgement.”

He said he failed to give proper weight to “the gravity of the crimes” and the trauma experienced by the victim and their family.

“I was extremely naive and I was wrong,” he wrote.

He said he would be writing to the family of the victim to apologise, and he will also resign all employment, consultancies, and directorships he currently holds.

A footnote to the statement said the former politician would not be doing any interviews.

Who is Jim Glennon?

Jim Glennon is a 72-year-old former Fianna Fáil TD for Dublin North. 

Born in Skerries in north county Dublin, he was educated at Cistercian College in Roscrea, Co Tipperary.

Glennon played rugby for Skerries in the 1970s and was then selected to play in the second-row for Leinster.

Glennon played for Leinster from 1976 to 1987, winning six caps for Ireland throughout the 1980s, before two stints as Leinster Rugby coach. He also managed the senior team.

The year 2000 saw his first foray in politics with his election to the Seanad on the Industrial and Commercial panel. He was elected in a Seanad by-election to replace former Labour Party politician Pat Gallagher.

He remained in this position in the Seanad until the end of the term in 2002.

That year, he ran as a general election candidate for Fianna Fáil and was elected. He served only one term: in 2006, he informed then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern that he would not be running for reelection and would be pursuing interests in the private sector. His last Dáil contribution was on 24 April 2007.

The general election was held on 24 May 2007.

In January of the following year he joined public relations firm Edelman Ireland as chairperson, where he has remained up until this year. While he is still listed in his role on the company’s website, the firm told The Irish Independent that he departed the post last month – before the issue of the contentious character reference came to its or the public’s attention.

Glennon was involved in other companies throughout his 18 years in the post; he also served as non-executive chairman of Medisec Ireland, an indemnity insurance firm for medical and dental professionals, from 2013 to 2023. He was founding CEO of that company in 1994, according to his LinkedIn.

He also, in that time, was a member of the advisory board of Treehouse Ireland.

Treehouse is a work hub company, self-described as a “community of high impact do’ers [sic] and change makers in Ireland in a purpose-built space designed for entrepreneurs by entrepreneurs”.

It was founded in 2014 by Daniel Ramamoorthy.

In a Treehouse interview in March 2014, Glennon said co-working is “something taking the world by storm at the moment”.

He said Treehouse is something that was “badly needed”.

“In a very short period of time, everybody in business in Ireland will know about Treehouse,” he said, “for all positive reasons rather than negatives.”