Information coming thick and fast regarding the surprise news last night concerning the decision to investigate a complaint against Senator Rónán Mullen.

I have received a copy of the complaint made to the Seanad Committee on Members Interests by Martin O’Sullivan from the People Before Profit Alliance

Jody Blake
Committee on Members’ Interests of Seanad Éireann
Seanad Éireann
Leinster House,
Dublin 2

Dear Ms Blake

On RTE’s Drivetime program of Thursday 3rd June 2010 Senator Rónán Mullen claimed that an “elected representative” advised him to “claim that he was living in Galway for the purposes of claiming expenses”. According to Senator Mullen’s account this person stated that “if Senator Mullen was in the Seanad long enough he could get a house out of it”. Senator Mullen stated that he will “take to the grave” the name of this person.

As a citizen of this state and a person who ran for election to Dublin City Council I find this unacceptable. Senator Mullen clearly has knowledge of a person who advised him to carry out an unethical act and his silence is protecting this person. Senator Mullen’s stated reason for this is that this person may not have been serious however it is not his place to make this determination. This
determination should be made by The Commitee on Members’ Interests of Seanad Éireann

I sent Senator Mullen a letter on Sunday, July 18, 2010, requesting that he reveal this name, I also informed Senator Mullen that if he had not revealed the name I would issue a press statement calling on him to reveal this name. Senator Mullen responded to me stating once again “I will not be reporting the name of the person in question to the Committee on Members’ Interests.”

For too long wrongdoing has been protected in Ireland by a wall of secrecy. I wish to make a formal complaint to the Committee on Members’ Interests of Seanad Éireann, I request the Committee to:

1 Request Senator Rónán Mullen to publicly reveal the name of the person who advised him to claim he was living in Galway for the purposes of claiming expenses.

2 Take action against the person who gave this advise to Senator Mullen.

Yours sincerely

__________________________________
Martin O’Sullivan

Senator Mullen has this morning spammed people who have ever used his website (this includes those who have not indicated they wish to receive any information from him) with a statement saying he is not happy with yesterday’s statement from the Select committee.

You may have seen a potentially misleading report on the Nine o’ Clock news or in other media about the Seanad Select Committee’s investigation into politician’s expenses. The impression might have been given that some
impropriety regarding expenses may have been alleged against me to the
Committee. That is NOT the case. As my statement below makes clear, the
complaint, which emanates from a political group, concerns an incident I
described in the Seanad in which I said I had been encouraged to exaggerate
expense claims. I gave an interview to Morning Ireland shortly after 7 this
morning which you can access if you are interested and I enclose below the
statement which I issued last night after RTE’s Nine o’ Clock news.

I am extremely concerned by the unspecific nature of the statement released
by the Select Committee on Members’ Interests this evening, and by media
reports of same.

The Committee statement says that the “Committee has commenced
investigations into separate complaints made against Senators Larry Butler,
Ivor Callely, Ronan Mullen and Ann Ormonde.”

The Select Committee failed to specify that the complaint made against me
does not allege any impropriety on my part in the claiming of expenses. The
complaint against me is one made by the ‘People Before Profit’ group and
relates to an anecdote I told in the Seanad, and subsequently in the media,
about a casual conversation in which it was suggested to me by a member of
the Oireachtas at the time I joined the Seanad that I should claim expenses
from my home place in Galway, instead of from Dublin where I live. I told
this anecdote because I believed it might reflect the lax attitude to
expenses that pertained in some quarters in Leinster House. The complainant
says that I should reveal the name of the person who made this comment.

Given the justified anger about the misuse of expenses by politicians, the
failure to specify that the complaint against me does not relate to any
such impropriety on my part is very damaging. I have been consistently
among those who claim the least amount of expenses in Leinster House and I
have always acted in an appropriate fashion.

I would ask that the Select Committee reflect on the carelessness of this
statement and that they publish a more specific statement. I will be
seeking an urgent meeting with the Chairman of the Committee. I am seeking
an opportunity to go on the RTE television news to clarify the situation.
In the meantime I ask that any media reporting this story clarify matters
as a matter of urgency.

This evening the Seanad Committee on Members Interests released a statement outlining the terms of their investigation into complaints against four members of the Oireachtas.

I’m putting the basis of the complaints as I understand them in brackets beside each member being investigated – Ivor Callely, (phones etc.) Ann Ormonde (claiming from Waterford whilst holiday home there being renovated) Larry Butler (claiming mileage from Carlow while having house in Dublin) and Rónán Mullen.

Can we confirm the nature of the complaint against Senator Mullen? There were threats to make a complaint by the People Before Profit Alliance (aka The Socialist Workers Party) last month – over something Rónán Mullen said – not that he had done anything. Mullen said that some elected member told him he could claim from Galway where he was from. I’ve had a look at the expenses but can’t see where he has done so – as his mileage for 2008 for example was much lower than other Galway Senator’s. So are the Seanad investigating a spurious complaint from the SWP/PBPA ? Or is there more?

The email sent to Senator Mullen in July is below – I will add to this post as more information becomes available and I have sought the text of the actual complaint made to the Seanad.

Dear Senator Mullen

On RTE’s Drivetime program of Thursday 3rd June 2010 you claimed that an “elected representative” advised you that you should claim that you were living in Galway for the purposes of claiming expenses. According to your account this person stated that “if you were in the Seanad long enough you could get a house out of it”. You have stated that you will “take to the grave” the name of this person.

As a citizen of this state and a person who ran for election to Dublin City Council I find this unacceptable. You clearly have knowledge of a person who advised you to carry out an unethical act and your silence is protecting this person. Your stated reason for this is that this person may not have been serious however it is not your place to make this determination.

For too long wrongdoing has been protected in Ireland by a wall of secrecy. If you do not give the name of this person to the Seanad Committee on Members Interests by Friday 30th July I will make a complaint against you. On Tuesday 18/07/2010 I will contact over 1000 members of both the local and national press, to advise them that I have sent you this letter.

Yours sincerely

__________________________________

Martin O’Sullivan

See also Anthony Sheridan’s post on the original interview given by Senator Mullen regarding the advice he was given.

Update – 1.10am 10/8

Mary Minihan in The Irish Times confirms the complainant and nature of complaint made against Senator Mullen and his initial response.

… the committee will also write to Independent Senator Rónán Mullen, asking him to respond to a complaint lodged by People Before Profit Alliance member Martin O’Sullivan.

Mr O’Sullivan’s complaint referred to an anecdote related by Mr Mullen on RTÉ’s Drivetime programme on June 3rd, when he said an elected representative had told him he should claim expenses from an address farther away than his actual address when he joined the Seanad. Mr O’Sullivan called on Mr Mullen to name the person.

Mr Mullen said the committee was doing good work and he would be happy to co-operate with it in any way he could.

“It’s one thing to take a view that it probably illustrated a certain attitude at the time, it’s another thing to put somebody else’s good reputation in issue. That would create a difficulty for me, in all honesty, but obviously I’ll look respectfully at what the committee are saying.”

The email below was flying around a few people in Ireland today – it would seem that the rumours were true, Jolitics.com – the new political social networking site is getting rolled out in Ireland first.

The person helping the Bebo founder Michael Birch with his Irish launch is Paddy Cosgrave, founder of Dublin Web Summit and well someone who you’ll have a read a bit about before hereabouts.

Hi there,

I’m helping launch Jolitics.com, Michael Birch’s new political website (he previously founded Bebo), which will go into stealth mode in Ireland in the next 48 hours. I was wondering if you’d like to be amongst the first in the world to try it out – it will be closed to the public for a while yet, but I thought you might be interested?

We’re looking for 50 founding members in Ireland. It’s a super simple idea and it will be interesting to see how it develops over the coming months.

The start up is based in Silicon Valley, but Michael is going to try something a little unorthodox and grow it out from Ireland and not from Silicon Valley first. If successful this could set a new trend where we get to see the new stuff first.

If you’d like an invite click below and I’ll be sure to include you: Click Here

Best,

Paddy Cosgrave

Worth noting that Jolitics.ie was registered by potential opponent of Jolitics, Politics.ie owner David Cochrane. So those of you in stealth mode let us know what you think? Or are the deflectors fully engaged?