THE 3,636 calls from Leinster House in support of Independent TD Michael Healy-Rae’s appearance on a reality television show are likely to have been made with the use of a computerised auto-dialling system.
Information released by the Oireachtas last night shows the calls were made in rapid succession, were extremely short, and appeared to have been made from one phone or group of phones.
It would have taken over nine hours to make the 3,636 calls from Leinster House in support of Mr Healy-Rae, based on the details of the calls released by the Oireachtas.
Mr Healy-Rae yesterday announced he was going to pay the €2,600 cost of the calls that helped him win the Celebrities Go Wildcontest but denied that he or his father Jackie had any involvement in the abuse of the Oireachtas phone privileges.
The calls were made over a three-day period between Monday, October 22nd, and Thursday, October 25th, 2007, the secretary-general of the Oireachtas, Kieran Coughlan, stated in a letter sent to Jackie Healy-Rae the following year.
None of the calls from Leinster House was made by staff, whose phone usage is logged, Mr Coughlan told the then Kerry South TD in the letter, which was released by the Oireachtas yesterday.
Analysis of the calls showed that they all lasted less than five seconds, and more than 1,000 lasted only one second.
They were generally made in groups of roughly five-second intervals in regular periods during the three days.
The letter, which said there were no detailed records of any calls made from particular extensions in Leinster House, invited Mr Healy-Rae to comment. However, he did not reply.
Michael Healy-Rae said his father had no recollection of being contacted by the Oireachtas at the time. He said that while he had no hand, act or part in the calls, and had initially opted against paying the money, he had changed his mind after it became clear the matter was distracting from the main issue facing the country, which was the economy.
“Every person who made those phone calls, I’m paying for every one of their phone calls now,” said Mr Healy-Rae, who was a county councillor in 2007.
“I’m the only person in Ireland that’s paying for other people’s phone bills.” He add: “I’m a good, honest, hard-working politician.
“I want to be allowed to continue with that job and I cannot if this is hanging out there, and if people are going to be saying, well will the money be paid or won’t the money be paid.”
Mr Healy-Rae insisted other politicians had voted for him, though he declined to name them.
However, Fianna Fáil Senator Ned O’Sullivan said yesterday he voted for Mr Healy Rae in the reality TV show having been asked to do so by a support group which he believed the then councillor had working for him in Kerry.
He said he sent between a dozen and 18 texts to vote for Mr Healy Rae in the competition, using a mobile phone supplied to him by the Oireachtas, but he had done so at his own expense.
Speaking to the Kerrymannewspaper, Jackie Healy Rae said the calls in support of his son may have been made by senators. He said he himself had "nothing in the wide earthly world to do with it".
He said he did not think the controversy would affect his son’s credibility. “This money weren’t stolen or robbed, this money was for charity. I can’t see this doing anything to Michael, he’s a hard worker. He got so many votes but what we’re talking about here is only the same as one straw in a bull’s mouth.”
Earlier, Taoiseach Enda Kenny had said the cost of the calls should be paid back. “It might be funny if it weren’t as serious as it is. This money should be paid back, full stop. It should never have happened,” Mr Kenny said.
The affair is to be examined next Thursday by the Dáil Committee on Procedure and Privileges, which is chaired by the Ceann Comhairle Seán Barrett. He has described the use of the phones as “an outrageous abuse of facilities”.
The other committee members are Joe Carey, Martin Heydon, Paul Kehoe, John Lyons, Nicky McFadden, Catherine Murphy, Seán Ó Fearghail, Aengus Ó Snodaigh and Emmet Stagg.
‘Phonegate’ has little impact in Kingdom
THE CONTROVERSY surrounding the celebrity television contest won by Kerry South TD Michael Healy-Rae, in which more than 3,600 votes were cast in phone calls made from Leinster House, was the main topic of conversation on Monday, according to the presenter of the flagship local radio programme.
The disclosure by the Irish Daily Mailon Monday led to dozens of calls to Radio Kerry, and "90 per cent" of the calls "were saying the spending of taxpayers' money in such a fashion was a disgrace", said Jerry O'Sullivan, presenter of Kerry Today. "People are having difficulty believing they [the Healy-Raes] had nothing to do with it," O'Sullivan said.
Yet on the streets of Tralee yesterday, a number of people approached said that they knew little or nothing about the issue, despite blanket coverage on newspapers.
In Killarney, one prominent person from a rival political party felt there were more pressing issues.
But callers to the local radio station said they were angry that the phonecalls could not be traced beyond the single common Leinster House number.
O’Sullivan’s show put a query in to Kerry County Council to see if there had been a spike in calls from county hall in Tralee to the celebrity show, but they were told that there had not been.
There was less of a response on Tuesday from the public, he said, adding the issue was not among the most controversial ever on the programme. At least one caller likened what happened to the abuse of Oireachtas envelopes, when the privilege of free postage was used for all sorts of personal matters by TDs and Senators.
Just one local politician called for the money to be repaid.
Killarney Cllr Michael Gleeson said he was not pointing the finger of responsibility, but as Michael Healy-Rae was the benefactor he should pay back the money in the interest of higher standards in public office.
ANNE LUCEY