Commission to probe senator’s expenses

The Court of Appeal has cleared the way for an investigation by the Standards in Public Office Commission into the alleged duplication of expenses claims by Fianna Fáil senator Brian Ó Domhnaill.

The three-judge court rejected an appeal by the senator against the High Court’s dismissal of his challenge to the investigation concerning travel and subsistence claims made by him between 2006 and 2007, when he was a member of Donegal County Council.

The commission was set to begin a public session on the expenses matter in June 2012 but that was put on hold after Mr Ó Domhnaill secured leave from the High Court days earlier to bring his challenge.