Oireachtas watchdog chief in €250k office row

The head of the Oireachtas spending watchdog committee faces questions about his role in approving a €250,000 kitting-out of his office when he was a junior minister.

John McGuinness TD has said he had no part in the costs and was not aware of the significant price of refurbishing his ministerial room on Kildare St. The Fianna Fáil TD was junior minister at the Department of Enterprise in 2007 at the time the work was done.

There were calls for Mr McGuinness, who is now head of the Public Accounts Committee, to answer questions about the spend.