A SECOND Fianna Fáil Senator who has listed Dublin as his home address on the official Oireachtas website claims travel and accommodation allowance from an address outside the capital.
Senator Larry Butler’s home address is listed as Westminster Road, Foxrock in Dublin on the website and also in Nealon’s Guide to the 30th Dáil and 23rd Seanad.
Last night, Mr Butler told The Irish Times that since being elected to Seanad Éireann in 2007, he has lived in Graiguenamanagh, Co Kilkenny.
He said that he stayed in his Foxrock residence only when the Seanad is in session.
In the list of travel and accommodation payments for March and April 2010 – published online earlier this week – Mr Butler’s allowance band is 4, which lists him as resident 120 – 150km from Leinster House.
The allowance for those bands is €27,966 per annum compared to €7,000 per annum for Dublin-based Senators.
Mr Butler accepted that the Oireachtas website may list his address as Dublin. But he continued: “I am living in Graiguenamanagh and have been there for the last three and a half years. I stay in Dublin when I come up to the Seanad. I stay a couple of nights in Foxrock and when I leave the Seanad I come down here.”
Mr Butler is a native of Graiguenamanagh, but lived in Dublin for many years.
He was a long-serving councillor on Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, first elected in 1992. He is a first-time Senator, having been unsuccessful in the Seanad election of 2002.
Mr Butler said he has not transferred his vote to the Carlow-Kilkenny constituency as yet, but expected that the electoral register will take care of that.
Meanwhile, one of the two people who lodged a formal complaint about Senator Ivor Callely’s expenses has criticised the “poor leadership” shown by the Taoiseach on the issue and said it should not be up to an “ordinary Joe soap” like him to act.
John Mulligan from Boyle, Co Roscommon said he had been moved to avail of his right to make a complaint under the Ethics in Public Office Act because of the “blatancy of it” and he was very surprised more people had not done so.
“It is such a cute hoor stroke, like something Pat Shortt would have dreamed up,” said Mr Mulligan, an author who runs the “Focus on Romania” organisation.
“I felt he was arrogantly thumbing his nose at the rest of us as if nobody knows whether he lived in Clontarf or west Cork.”
Mr Mulligan contended that section 8 of the Act, which allows citizens to make a complaint was “one of the best kept secrets in politics” but he believed it was up to people to inform themselves that such mechanisms were available to them. “I am very surprised that people will go and scream and shout outside the Dáil and throw themselves at policemen, but are not prepared to use the system that is there for doing the right thing.”
Mr Mulligan said he was not a member of any political party and had no issue with politicians being paid expenses.
Mr Mulligan added that he would have no problem with Senator Callely claiming expenses from west Cork if he lived there.
In his letter to the clerk of the Seanad Deirdre Lane, he stated that Mr Callely appeared to be claiming money he was not entitled to. He added that it would be easy to establish through telephone and utilities bills if Mr Callely had been living in west Cork or Clontarf for the relevant period.
CALLELY HOLIDAY HOME SALE PRICE AT €650,000
FIANNA FÁIL Senator Ivor Callely has been trying to sell his west Cork holiday home at the centre of his expenses controversy for the past six years, but to date has failed to find a buyer.
Originally, Mr Callely was seeking €750,000 for the property near Kilcrohane village on the Sheep’s Head Peninsula when he first put it on the market in late 2004 and it remained at this price for several months into early 2005 when he engaged three local agents to sell the house.
Since 2006, the stone-clad house has been on the books with Clonakilty auctioneer Henry O’Leary with an initial asking price of €825,000 but it was reduced to €795,000 in 2007 and since 2008, the asking price has been €650,000.
Mr Callely is understood to have had the property, which is located 500m from the centre of Kilcrohane village, since 1995 when he built it on a site of three-quarters of an acre, overlooking Dunmanus Bay and across to the Mizen Peninsula.
Auctioneer Henry O’Leary said the property consists of two buildings, a main house and a detached garage which has been constructed to residential specification and which, according to the planning permission, “can be used for purposes incidental to the enjoyment of the dwelling”.
The property brochure describes the house as beautifully built and perfectly positioned on a spectacular site with breathtaking bay views and says it could be either a full-time family home or a spectacular holiday home.
Mr O'Leary said that the property has attracted "a nice bit of interest" because of its location but has had no offers. "This is a fabulous property but the market is very difficult at present," he added. TRISH DROMEY