IN LESS than two years, John O'Donoghue ran up a personal expenses bill of €146,380 to cover advertising, secretarial services, overnight expenses and TDs allowances.


In one single month in December 2007, the Ceann Comhairle claimed €2,514.06 for 18 "overnighters" in Dublin despite the fact the Dáil sat for only eight nights that month. O'Donoghue also spent four days of the month in Prague and actually departed for the Czech Republic on a day that the Dáil was sitting.


The Ceann Comhairle spent Christmas at home and records of internal flights show that he flew from Dublin to Kerry on Wednesday 19 December which coincided with the end of parliamentary proceedings for the year.


An expense claim filed that month says that O'Donoghue claimed for eleven nights in December 2007 for "attending in Dáil Éireann". It also states that he claimed for seven further nights for "using the facilities of the Houses". For each night spent in Dublin, he was claiming the standard rate of €139.67 for an "over-night", the documents show. Eyebrows have also been raised about O'Donoghue's use of nearly €14,000 of taxpayer's money to advertise clinics and party colleagues in local newspapers.


Even though the Ceann Comhairle is automatically entitled to re-election, the Ceann Comhairle took out weekly adverts in his local papers.


n December 2007, he spent €482 on a Christmas Greetings message for himself and his Fianna Fail party colleague Colin Miller in Kerry's Eye.


The same month, a bill of €302.50 was charged to the taxpayer for a "quarter page advert – Colin Miller, Season's Greetings" in the Kingdom.


In December 2008, Mr O'Donoghue spent €2,529 of Exchequer funds sending out by post a publicity flyer to 25,000 people according to the records.


The Ceann Comhairle's legendary largesse when it came to overseas travel was also apparent when he was entertaining in Dublin.


Over the course of two years, he spent €8,000 on official dining including two separate Christmas dinners for politicians, which cost €2,000.


On July 4 2007, he spent €294 on a "working dinner" and the following day, he forked out another €202 for lunch "in honour of the Mayor of Portlaoise".


In November 2008, he paid out another €197 on a "working breakfast" and in July of this year, he handed over another €110 for a dinner he had hosted.