Fianna Fáil Senator Brian Ó Domhnaill asks High Court to halt investigation over expenses

Fianna Fáil Senator Brian Ó Domhnaill has asked the High Court to halt an investigation by the Standards in Public Office Commission into alleged duplication of expenses claims.

The action relates to an investigation concerning travel and subsistence claims made by Mr Ó Domhnaill between 2006 and 2007, when he was a member of Donegal County Council.

The Commission was due to begin a public session concerning the expenses matter last June but that did not proceed after Mr Ó Domhnaill secured leave from the High Court days earlier to bring his challenge.

In his judicial review proceedings, Mr Ó Domhnaill claims the commission is not entitled to deal with the matters on grounds, he claims, they arose from an anonymous complaint by a member of the public.

Alternatively, he wants orders requiring the case to be heard by a commission comprising members who are bilingual and able to conduct and understand the proceedings without the assistance of an interpreter.

The refusal to provide a bilingual tribunal amounts to treating him as a foreigner in his own country, he argues.