FIANNA Fail has described as "regrettable" a weekend incident in which Senator Dan Kiely was arrested outside a bar in Listowel, Co Kerry.
A spokesman said the party's Seanad leader, Mr G.V. Wright, would be examining the circumstances of the incident.
At about 7.30 p.m. on Saturday Senator Kiely, who had been to Listowel races, became involved in an argument with another man in a pub in the town.
He was asked to leave and the row continued outside, where a crowd gathered.
Two gardai arrived and a fracas ensued as a result of which Senator Kiely was handcuffed and taken to the local Garda station.
He was released at about 9 p.m. and gardai say a file is being prepared.
Senator Kiely, who could not be contacted yesterday, has faced charges on two previous occasions.
He was fined £200 in 1988 after an incident at Lisselton Country Club, which was then owned by the Kiely family. On that occasion, Listowel District Court found him guilty of obstructing a Customs and Excise officer and breaking vodka bottles to prevent them being seized.
The Customs officer was investigating the origin of three bottles of vodka which, the court heard, Mr Kiely had said he bought duty free on return from Council of Europe meetings.
The officer said the bottles were produced in England and were not duty free, and told the court that Mr Kiely had responded to his inquiries by knocking the bottles off the counter, smashing them.
The judge remarked that, had Mr Kiely been the licensee, he would have had difficulty getting the licence renewed and said of the incident that "there seems to me to be something more sinister behind it".
In 1989 a decree for £2,000 and costs was given against Mr Kiely for an assault with a billiard cue on a man outside the same premises at Lisselton. Listowel District Court was told the man had been struck on the back of the head with the cue after an altercation in the club when he had been asked to leave.
Mr Kiely has been a member of Kerry County Council since 1979 and an elected member of Seanad Eireann from 1981 to 1982 and from 1987 to date. He was a Dail candidate in 1982, when he was defeated by 90 votes, and again in 1987. He recently failed to win the Fianna Fail nomination for the next general election.
