Ivor Callely affair - A useful distraction

THE “embarrassment” expressed by a growing number of senior Fianna Fáil figures about Senator Ivor Callely’s expenses would be reassuring if it was not so overdue.

Or if that newfound preciousness, that newfound dedication to ethics was not so laughable.

At this late point it is saddening and, as Ryle Dwyer points out elsewhere on this page, it is typical of the corruption that has characterised Fianna Fáil for decades. It is almost five years since Mr Callely had to resign as a junior minister because a builder painted his house for nothing. Now we are subject to new revelations more or less every day about Mr Callely’s expenses yet no one with real authority in that party has told him to empty his desk.