Callely expenses to be investigated

A SEANAD committee will meet today as a first step towards investigating why Dublin-based Senator Ivor Callely claimed travel expenses from his holiday home in west Cork.

After being ordered by Taoiseach Brian Cowen to provide a full account of the issue, Mr Callely infuriated party colleagues yesterday by reading a short statement in the Seanad devoid of any explanation.

Instead, he suggested the issue was “complex” and too difficult to address in a statement, and criticised the “media presentation” of the matter, saying it had left him “deeply upset”.