CEANN COMHAIRLE John O’Donoghue is to break his silence on the controversy surrounding his foreign travel arrangements and expenses bill in his previous role as a Government minister before the Dáil resumes later this month.
Mr O’Donoghue intends to make a written statement on the matter to TDs and Senators that will be available before September 16th, when the Dáil returns to begin the debate on the legislation establishing the National Asset Management Agency.
A spokesman for the Oireachtas confirmed this yesterday. “The Ceann Comhairle will clarify the matter for his colleagues in advance of the resumption of the Dáil,” said the spokesman.
In late July it emerged that Mr O’Donoghue, his wife Kate Ann and his private secretary ran up a flight and expenses bill for foreign travel of more than €100,000 over a period of two years.
In subsequent weeks further information released under the Freedom of Information Act disclosed that Mr O’Donoghue had used the Government jet to return from the Cannes Film Festival in France to a constituency event in Kerry; that the hotel bill for a stay in Venice came to €900 per night; and that limousine hire to transfer Mr O’Donoghue and his party between two terminals at Heathrow airport amounted to €400. In addition, limousine hire came to a total of almost €10,000 during a week-long trip to London and Cheltenham.
In the six weeks since the controversy arose, neither the Ceann Comhairle nor his personal spokesman has made any comment on the matter, despite new disclosures about travel expenses and his use of the Government jet.
His office also cancelled a plan to host a visit to Leinster House by contestants in the Rose of Tralee final on the grounds that construction work was taking place at the complex. However, the visit went ahead on an informal basis without his participation. Mr O’Donoghue was on holidays abroad at the time.
Last week, Fine Gael Senator Paschal Donohoe called on Mr O’Donoghue to make a full statement on the matter or to resign. It followed a similar call from Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh.
In a post on his website, Mr Donohoe said: “I can’t understand why [Mr O’Donoghue] is still in his job and why he hasn’t commented on a month of revelations.” However, a former Fianna Fáil ministerial colleague, Mary O’Rourke, defended Mr O’Donoghue’s record, saying he had performed his duties in a very good way.
“Maybe he feels in his current position as Ceann Comhairle he doesn’t want to go public and explain things from three or four years ago,” she said. She added she would not be putting a “heavy hand” on him to apologise.
Sources confirmed the Ceann Comhairle is constrained from commenting publicly because of his non-partisan and independent role as chair of the Houses of the Oireachtas.
It is understood that Mr O’Donoghue has received advice on this issue in recent days, and that he may deliver his clarification in a written statement that will be laid in the library of the Dáil.