A county councillor has demanded that Senator Brian O Domhnaill resign from the Seanad.
The West Donegal politician resigned from the Fianna Fail party but will remain as an Independent after he was found by the Standards in Public Office Commission to be in breach of ethics laws.
The findings published last week found that he had ‘knowingly’ breached ethics laws by claiming expenses from both Donegal County Council and Údarás na Gaeltachta for three trips in 2006.
The investigation is estimated to have cost the taxpayer in the region of €350,000.
Now Donegal Independent County Councillor Michael Mac Giolla Easbuig has called on the Gortahork-based politician to resign from Seanad Eireann and pay back the estimated €350,000 cost of the investigation to the exchequer.
He said “In the interest of decency and to allow the public to see that there is still some decency in politics, Senator O Domhnaill should resign his position and he should also pay the €350,000 cost of this investigation.
“I have already written to Donegal County Council and to Udaras na Gaeltachta to see how this can be done and what mechanisms are available to us for doing this.
“There are families in Co Donegal going to bed hungry tonight and who will not have a Christmas because they simply cannot afford it. And the lucky ones are those whose fathers or mothers have been forced to move abroad to work to put food on the table for Christmas.
“This money would go a long way towards helping many of these families and if Senator O Domhnaill had some decency, he would pay this money back to the exchequer,” he said.
Councillor Mac Giolla Easbuig also accused Senator O Domhnaill of using the Irish language as a stalling mechanism for his case.
“I would always defend a person’s right to use the Irish language but I do not feel that this was done because of a love of the language in this case.
“In my opinion it was used as a stalling mechanism and that certainly doesn’t help people who are genuinely trying to promote the Irish language,” he said.
