Lawyer rejects claim Ivor Callely had settled case

A lawyer for an accountancy firm which sought to jail former politician Ivor Callely over an unpaid debt has rejected a statement that the case had been already settled by the time a court issued an arrest warrant.

The disgraced ex-Fianna Fáil politician and minster of state was jailed for five months in 2014 for using false invoices to claim €4,207.45 in expenses at Leinster House, Kildare St, between November 2007 and December 2009 while he was a member of the Seanad.

However, in an unrelated case, Callely, aged 58, of St Lawrence’s Road, Clontarf, was supposed to appear before Judge Michael Coghlan at Dublin District Court on Tuesday. He did not show up, resulting in a bench warrant being issued for his arrest.