THE COMMITTEE investigating Senator Ivor Callely’s expenses and complaints against three other Senators will meet today to consider the response of all four to the claims against them.
The Seanad Committee on Members’ Interests may also respond to a decision by the Garda to defer an investigation of its own into Mr Callely’s expenses until the committee makes a finding.
The committee is empowered to investigate Mr Callely’s compliance with the Ethics in Public Office Act but is not in a position to make a finding on whether there has been any breach of the criminal law.
However, it does have the power to refer its conclusions to the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Standards in Public Office Commission and it is understood that gardaí intend to wait and see if that course is followed.
Today’s meeting is likely to be a lengthy one as the committee will have to consider detailed information on all four cases from the Houses of the Oireachtas as well as the submissions from those involved.
Much of today’s meeting is expected to be taken up with the complaint against Mr Callely which relates to mobile phone expenses incurred between 2002 and 2007 when he was a member of the Dáil.
The Senator has admitted that four receipts he submitted claiming almost €3,000 for the purchase of mobile phones between 2002 and 2007 used the letterhead of a company that ceased trading in 1994.
Mr Callely has returned the sum he received, €2,879, to the Oireachtas and claimed he had submitted the receipts in “good faith”.
Fine Gael Seanad justice spokesman Senator Eugene Regan yesterday called on the Taoiseach to seek Ivor Callely’s resignation from the Seanad, following more revelations about his expenses over the weekend.
Senator Regan was speaking following reports that Mr Callely received €87,000 in mileage expenses as a junior minister over two years, while living in Dublin.
“Up to this point in time Taoiseach Brian Cowen has not been willing to make the express call for Senator Callely’s resignation. The time has come for the Taoiseach to do so publicly,” said Mr Regan.
The committee will also consider complaints against two other Fianna Fáil Senators, Larry Butler and Ann Ormonde, about their use of holiday home addresses outside Dublin to claim expenses for travelling to and from Leinster House.
The complaints were made when it emerged that the two Senators, who have addresses in Dublin, were claiming travel expenses for a period from addresses outside the capital.
Mr Butler has previously said his home was in Graiguenamanagh, Co Kilkenny, and he only stayed in his house in Foxrock on Seanad sitting days.
Ms Ormonde, from Donnybrook in Dublin, has said she claimed expenses from Waterford for a period when building work was being carried out on her holiday home.
It is expected to make a quick decision on the complaint against Senator Ronan Mullen which does not relate to his expenses claims.
The complaint from the People Before Profit movement is about Mr Mullen’s refusal to name an individual who told him he should claim expenses from his parental home in Galway rather than his Dublin address.
Mr Mullen has criticised the committee for dealing with the complaint against him along with the other three cases. Committee members have pointed out that they are obliged to investigate any complaint referred to them by the Clerk of the Seanad.
The members’ interests committee dealing with the matter is chaired by Seanad Cathaoirleach Pat Moylan of Fianna Fáil. Its other members are Frances Fitzgerald of Fine Gael, Labours Alex White, Independent Joe O’Toole, Camillus Glynn and Denis O’Donovan of Fianna Fáil and Mark Dearey of the Greens.