Cowen: O’Donoghue need not repay expenses

FORMER Ceann Comhairle John O’Donoghue has no need to repay the massive travel bills and expenses which forced him from office, Taoiseach Brian Cowen has indicated.

Mr Cowen said all of the expenses had been audited and approved, as stated by Mr O’Donoghue in his resignation speech to the Dáil on Tuesday.

“The Ceann Comhairle has given an account to the House yesterday and all of those expenses were audited and passed by the relevant accounting officers,” Mr Cowen said.

Prior to his resignation, Fine Gael had indicated it would request Mr O’Donoghue to repay any bills or expenses that were not justified.

But Mr O’Donoghue’s departure from office means Fine Gael is unlikely to push the matter further.

Fianna Fáil TD Mary O’Rourke defended Mr O’Donoghue, saying she imagined the “outcome would have been much different” had he defended himself sooner.

Mr O’Donoghue claimed in his resignation speech that his virtual silence on the issue had been observed “to ensure that the office of Ceann Comhairle would not become the subject of political controversy”.

But Ms O’Rourke said: “They keep talking about protocol… I still think he should have stood up for himself much earlier.”

His resignation speech had been “terrific” – like a “three- act play” in which act one laid out the issues, act two was “the meat” and act three the summary, she said.

But while Ms O’Rourke felt for Mr O’Donoghue, she added: “People will not take anymore the idea that we (politicians) are apart from everybody else. How can we be?”

Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, meanwhile, accepted that travel costs had “become a bit too lax” during his tenure because the Government coffers were full and departments didn’t feel the need to seek out the best prices.

“Can you defend these things? No, you can’t,” he told the Pat Kenny show on RTÉ radio. “When you look at some of the rates and some of the things – if you were paying it yourself, would you be on arguing for a better price? Yes, you would… You can’t defend it.”

Mr Ahern said Mr O’Donoghue’s political career was not over, despite the controversy: “I don’t think his political career is ended by any means.”