Expenses row - O’Donoghue must resign

In the run up to the referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, the opposition parties obviously had little stomach for a political confrontation over the extravagant expenses of John O’Donoghue as Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism.

He apologised for those excesses, but hedeflected some of the criticism by suggesting that civil servants made many of the controversial arrangements.

Additional disclosures last week that he incurred over €250,000 in expenses during two years as Ceann Comhairle raise further questions about the taxpayers being asked to fund such a profligate lifestyle. Mr O’Donoghue’s attendance at various sporting events as Minister for Sports may have been understandable, but the taxpayer should not be saddled with his penchant for horse race meetings in France while he is Speaker of the Dáil.

The disclosure last Friday was apparently timed in the hope that the expenses story would somehow get lost in news coverage of the Lisbon Treaty.

The way in which he released the latest details has highlighted another way in which the original aims of the Freedom of Information Act are being frustrated.

Such abuses must be ended, and there should be meaningful reform without further delay.

As chairman of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission, which is supposedly in charge of reforming the expenses of deputies and senators, Mr O’Donoghue’s own extravagance has rendered his position as Ceann Comhairle utterly untenable.

He must resign.