A COMPLAINT AGAINST Fine Gael Councillor Britto Pereppadan over his receiving a €3,000 payment into his bank account from a Indian nurse who was charged an unlawful agency fee to work in an Irish nursing home has been referred to the Standards in Public Office Committee (SIPO) by South Dublin County Council. 

Britto Pereppadan told The Journal that the payment was made as a business associate of his father, Baby Pereppadan, owed him a debt. He also said he did not know anything else about the nature of the payment. 

An investigation by The Journal Investigates published in August 2025 revealed that Britto’s father, who is also a Fine Gael councillor based in Tallaght, had a 50% shareholding in a recruitment agency that has been accused of charging migrant nurses unlawful fees to come and work in Irish care homes. 

At the time of publication Baby Pereppadan told The Journal: “I have no knowledge of the allegations regarding agency fees being charged to nurses, and I am shocked to learn of these claims, should they be true. I have had no involvement in the day-to-day activities of the company, nor was I made aware of any extra fees being levied.” 

He said he was given a 50% shareholding in the firm as a “gesture of goodwill” from his business partner.

These nurses who came to work in Ireland via the company Angel Care Consultancy Limited paid the equivalent of €3,000 in agency fees in two cases and €3,600 in another case on top of the cost of flights and the cost of examination fees that have to be paid to become a registered nurse in Ireland. 

One of these nurses was directed to pay their agency fee of just over €3,000 directly into a bank account owned by Britto Pereppadan before coming to Ireland. 

(Britto Pereppadan told The Journal that he was owed this money as a personal debt by a third party, and he did not know anything about the nurse paying the money as a fee for her recruitment).

Britto has no formal connection to Angel Care and he told The Journal at the time that he received the payment from the nurse as his father’s business partner – Babu Valooran Kochuvarkey – owed him money for a personal debt. 

Kochuvarkey previously told The Journal that all money he charged to nurses was related to their application expenses, such as exam fees, work permits and visa payments, and for accommodation and transport in Ireland. 

He said: ““All payments were made with full transparency and via communication.” 

The nurses in question shared documentation with The Journal that showed how they paid for their own application-related expenses separately, and documentation that showed they paid for their accommodation in Ireland on their own, to an Indian host family. 

They maintained that they paid lump sum ‘agency fees’ before coming to Ireland. 

Britto was elected in Tallaght Central for the first time in the last local elections and he is also a medical doctor working in Tallaght University Hospital. 

The Journal understands that Kochuvarkey dealt with the nurses directly during their recruitment process, and they did not have contact with the Pereppadans. 

People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy made separate complaints about both councillors to the South Dublin County Council ethics registrar. 

Murphy told The Journal that he welcomes SDCC’s decisions to refer the matter to SIPO. 

“The Fine Gael leadership cannot continue to sit on their hands on this. Do they stand over Cllr. Pereppadan continuing as a Fine Gael Councillor given the allegations that he was paid an illegal and exploitative agency fee in clear violation of the code of ethics?” he said. 

South Dublin County Council, having reviewed the complaint against Baby Pereppadan, concluded that having considered the complaint against him, and on reviewing responses he sent to the council, “no findings can be made on this matter”. 

The registrar said that Baby Pereppadan confirmed that he was a director of Angel Care between November 2022 and May 2023 and that he acknowledged that he did not include this fact on his ethics declarations. 

He has since amended his declarations and they have been added to the public record. 

The council said that the complaint lodged by Murphy – which claimed that Pereppadan had breached the requirement to “act with integrity to uphold public service values” and “act in a way that enhances public trust and confidence” – did not warrant further action. 

Murphy’s complaint against Britto Pereppadan claimed that €3,000 of an unlawful agency fee was paid into his account, which Murphy said breached the code of conduct for councillors. 

SDCC said that the Mayor and the Chief Executive of the council considered this complaint in conjunction with the evidence that was provided by and on behalf of Britto Pereppadan, and ultimately decided that it warranted a referral to SIPO. 

Britto Perrepadan did not reply to a request for comment from The Journal. 

A Fine Gael spokesperson previously told The Journal that the party was going to await SDCC’s decision on the complaint before making any decisions in regards to the accusations against the Pereppadans. 

A spokesperson for the party this weekend told The Journal that it has noted the outcome of the complaints against Baby Pereppadan, and that it will now await the outcome of SIPO’s consideration of the complaint against Britto Pereppadan ”before deciding what steps are required”.