Mulherin pays extra €1,300 for calls after her own probe

The Fine Gael TD entangled in an expenses scandal over 130 calls she made from the Dáil to a Kenyan mobile has paid back a further €1,295 as a direct result of hitting out at how she was identified.

Michelle Mulherin has been forced to pay this on top of her initial €2,000 payment because an Oireachtas probe she called for herself found the cost of the calls was higher than first believed.

The Mayo representative sparked public anger last month after it emerged taxpayers paid for 100 calls to a Kenyan mobile made from her personal Dáil phone.

After she was identified as the person involved she agreed to pay back the €2,000 cost but insisted an Oireachtas investigation should be launched to find out how the calls were traced back to her phone by media outlets.

In a letter to Ceann Comhairle Seán Barrett, last month Ms Mulherin said her public identification was “in contravention of the constitutional protections which exists for members’ communications, phones and papers”.

“To my amazement I am identified and so is a third party private individual based on information furnished by the Houses of the Oireachtas Service,” she wrote at the time.

Oireachtas officials subsequently launched the investigation at her request.

However, in addition to finding Dáil workers did not release any material or information to identify the TD in the affair, it also found another 30 calls, bringing the 130-call cost to €3,295 — more than 50% higher than the €2,000 Ms Mulherin had initially paid back.

She did not respond to calls from the Irish Examiner yesterday.

However, in a statement to RTÉ she said: “I have received clarification from the Ceann Comhairle that there is provision for me as there is for other members to make calls from Leinster House without charge.

“The calls were work-related but to avoid any perception that I benefited personally, and to put an end to the distraction to my work as a TD, I arranged to refund the full amount of calls as soon as it was confirmed to me last week.”

Last month, Ms Mulherin stressed the contacts to the Kenyan phone were work-related and not for personal reasons. “I’ve made calls and the figures that have been given seem excessive or expensive. I have no problem in paying or refunding money,” she said. “But I’d just like to make the proviso that all calls have been made in the course of my work and as part of me being a politician. Nothing else, nothing personal.”

She has previously confirmed the calls were in relation to her friend Danson Kole who helped with her 2011 election campaign.

She said the correspondence involved conversations about claims Mr Kole was “maligned” by media reports about their relationship, and was work-related at all times.