O'Donoghue Says Resignation Is 'A Wrong'

The outgoing Ceann Comhairle has claimed his departure "was a wrong done to the office".

In his resignation speech yesterday, the ousted speaker who has been forced to resign following a series of damning revelations over excessive expenses, said he had been denied "due process" by the threat of a motion of no confidence.

Mr O'Donoghue came under fire after a litany of luxurious living expenses and excesses emerged totalling nearly €250,000 that were billed to the taxpayer.

Some of the excesses included €6,000 trips to France for short nonessential business meetings that coincided with horse racing meetings in France; 174 internal flights from Dublin to Kerry; 44 internal flights by his wife; Huge hotel room and bar bills; Limos on 24-hour standby at the races; Local newspaper advertising for his clinics; Garda escorts from Dublin to Kerry to pick him up from the airport; and even donations to charity billed to the taxpayer.

Mr O'Donoghue offered no apology during his speech and instead said many of these bills had been "distorted and exaggerated beyond the bounds of fairness" and that they "were used to create an ugly, grasping, black caricature of the man I am".

"This was a wrong done to the office of. That it should have been perpetrated from the floor of this House bodes ill for the body politic," he warned.

Mr O'Donoghue added: "I want to emphasise the following - travel, accommodation and related costs were all incurred on or in connection with official duties. Such arrangements were made in accordance with established Department of Finance guidelines and practices."

(DW/BMcc)