Dublin councillor tunes into meeting topless for election of new Lord Mayor
A Dublin councillor tuned into the election of new Lord Mayor Daryl Barron while topless on Monday evening.
Independent councillor Philip Sutcliffe appeared on-camera to councillors bare-chested as he tuned into the annual election meeting virtually.
The Ballyfermot-Drimnagh councillor kept his camera on for around 20 minutes, and could be seen drinking from a mug and smiling, before finally turning it off.
The councillor’s top half was not visible to the public during the meeting, but councillors who joined virtually could see that he was seated and topless.
The councillor appeared topless for around 20 minutes before turning his camera off
Several councillors reacted with shock when they saw him logging on bare-chested.
“It is just particularly ridiculous to show up at the council without, as far as I could tell, any clothes on, but I presume he was just topless,” one councillor said.
“I’m not in favour of a council dress code, I don’t want him to show up in a suit and tie. But you have to show up in something.
“He’s not fully tuned into what’s going on, so I don’t want to kind of attack a person when they’re down, but also he’s attacking a lot of people through his policies,” they added.
Mr Sutcliffe did not respond to requests for comment.
The councillor is no stranger to courting controversy since his election in 2024, having shared an image on social media last November of a spoiled ballot paper defaced with hate speech.
The ballot included lines such as “Deport all Africans!”, “Deport all Indians”, and “Ban Same-Sex Adoption”.
In a statement, Mr Sutcliffe apologised and said it was “accidentally shared”.
“The post had been forwarded to me and I was also tagged in it, and it was accidentally shared on my accounts. I wasn’t aware it had gone up on my social media account,” he said.
He said it was “an honest mistake” and that he would “make sure it doesn’t happen again”.
When contacted by the Irish Times, he said he didn’t remember posting it and he “probably just shared something on”.
The former Olympic boxer, who coached Conor McGregor in the past, chose to abstain on Monday’s Lord Mayor vote, voting for neither Daryl Barron or Social Democrats councillor Jesslyn Henry.
He was one of four councillors to do so, along with independents Gavin Pepper, Malachy Steenson and Christy Burke.