THERE’S MUCH A DO ABOUT IVOR. Tweeting earlier Senator Paul Gogarty wrote “if disreputable senators can’t be forced to resign their seats, surely an investigating committee could suspend without pay continuously ;-)”

Gogarty later went on Liveline and told Joe Duffy that he had proposed that the Oireachtas again investigate the allegations that he submitted invoices amounting to €3,000 from a company that has not traded in over a decade. “I’ve written to the clerk of the seanad asking for a formal investigation” Deputy Gogarty said.

Calling Senator Callely to resign, Gogarty said: There may be, as the last speaker said, an explanation.
“If this was the UK, if a person feels they are innocent, sometimes they resign first in order to answer questions.”

Gogarty said that the Oireachtas does have the powers to suspend the senator again. “[Senators] can be suspended on an ongoing basis and surely they would resign without facing that kind of humiliation.

“You’re talking about a very brazen individual here, Trevor Sargent made a mistake and he stepped down immediately, Willie O’Dea stepped down after a couple of days.”

This morning, David Norris has also called for the claims in the Irish Mail on Sunday to be investigated as has Michael Crowe, the Fianna Fáil mayor of Galway.