Former junior minister Ned O'Keeffe has been fined €3,500 and given a suspended sentence of seven months in prison after pleading guilty to submitting false invoices to claim mobile phone expenses.

He pleaded guilty to the charges at Cork District Court this morning.

O'Keeffe served as a Fianna Fail TD for 18 years.

The court heard that five fraudulent invoices for mobile phone expenses, worth more than €3,700, were submitted between July 2002 and September 2009.

Defence solicitor Frank Buttimer told the court that O'Keeffe had always intended to plead guilty and did not want the State to have to cover the costs of a full trial.

Irish Times reporter Barry Roche was in court and spoke to Newstalk Lunchtime.