A foxy Ivor still in hiding amid deafening silence
A COCKEREL struts up the graveled driveway of Senator Ivor Callely’s West Cork home followed by a clutch of nodding hens.
It’s the only sign of life at the idyllic holiday home where flame-coloured montbretia and deep purple hydrangeas sway in a gentle seaside breeze.
The sizeable garden is dotted with bird feeders, a well fenced-off hen coop, wooden bird houses and sets of chairs and tables where family and visitors admire the glorious rugged views of the Atlantic Ocean at Kilcrohane.
It’s a vista however that Senator Callely has had to forsake in recent days as he hid indoors from a media scrum who converged on his residence after it was alleged on Sunday that while a junior minister in 2007, he claimed up to €3,000 in phone expenses from a company that had previously folded. All the daily papers and national broadcasters have sent people here in the hope of the senator making some comment. The assorted collection of journalists, photographers and camera men have been camped at the end of the driveway since Monday.
Their presence had fallen off however by last evening as it’s believed the former Dublin North Central TD was eventually smuggled out of the house by his wife, Jennifer yesterday morning around 11am. At present, his whereabouts are unknown and the silence from the Callely camp is deafening.
Suspended without prejudice from the Fianna Fáil party since Tuesday, public anger with the former minister is boiling.
However, in a frightening depiction of Ireland in the 21st century, even people from outside the immediate area appear loathe to criticise the former Dublin TD on the record. One man in his 50s from Clontarf, the senator’s other disputed place of normal residence, holidaying at Sheep’s Head hissed: “It’s a total joke. He’s been at it for years. It’s a total joke”.
He wouldn’t be named however as he “works for the state” and is also friends with somebody “who knows Ivor Callely well”.
At O’Mahony’s post office and bistro in Kilcrohane village, all the outdoor tables and chairs are occupied by tourists in sunglasses, sipping drinks and basking in the warm sunshine.
“He should have resigned yonks ago,” one man says when I approach him. “To be honest, what I would like to say about that man could not be printed”.
“He has no shame,” his female companion adds. “I think it is just betrayal. It is appalling that he refuses to say anything.
“The whole political system in this country is horrendous”.
Another in the group adds: “If I stole €5 from my work, I’d be fired. It’s as simple as that”. They all nod.
Despite their feelings on this latest Callely scandal, none at the table, who all hailing from Dublin, would give their names. “It’s too small a country,” one explains as she actively discourages her partner from having his picture taken. “We holiday here all the time. We’d rather not identify ourselves”.
It’s the same with all the shop and pub owners in Kilcrohane. Long-time Callely loyalists, they smile at this Irish Examiner reporter before waving us away with a “no comment”.
The exception is Bernadette O’Sullivan from nearby Ahakista who lost her job last year due to public service cutbacks. The mother-of-four can only dream of Senator Callely’s basic salary, never mind the added expenses and pension benefits.
She said if a Garda investigation finds him guilty of fraud, he should be made live on social welfare alone for a year.
“I wouldn’t want him to go to jail. I would just like him to try and survive like the rest of us. That would be a much bigger punishment. I lost my job last year due to state budgetary cutbacks and yet this man can keep his job and pensions and perks and be up to this?” she said.
Back at Ivor’s holiday home, there’s still no sign of life and the doorbell brings no response. Only a family portrait of Ivor, his wife and children peers out at us.
Is Ivor going to just sit this out wherever he is and wait for the findings of the internal Fianna Fáil investigation into his expenses claims? Or will he actually resign as many are calling upon him to do?
He never admitted any impropriety after a committee hearing into his filing of mileage expenses from Kilcrohane — even though his constituency clinic is in Dublin.
We notice scores of white hen feathers are stuck to the lawn on the way out of the property.
It obviously wasn’t as foxy as Mr Callely, probably being lynched by the madra rua.
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