Updated 11.23
Former junior minister Ivor Callely has been jailed for five months for making bogus mobile phone expenses claims.
Judge Mary-Ellen Ring has found that the separated father of three ''not only broke the law but breached the trust the public placed in him'' and that a custodial sentence was in the public interest.
She said the fact of the sentence was as important as its duration. The former Fianna Fail politician appeared to be stunned by the outcome.
He sat in the dock for the hour long hearing. His lips moved almost constantly, as if he were praying under his breath.
Callely (56), of St/ Lawrence's Road, Clontarf, pleaded guilty to four counts of using invoices believing them to be false instruments between November 2007 and December 2009 at Leinster House, Kildare Street while he was a member of the Seanad.
The court heard he used invoices from defunct businesses to claim expenses under an Oireachtas scheme which allows members to claim €750 for mobile phones every 18 months.
Sentencing was adjourned last week to allow counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to make submissions on whether Callely's position as a senior politician at the time of the fraud was an aggravating factor in the case.
In submissions made this morning before sentencing, prosecuting counsel Dominic McGinn SC said it is the view of the DPP that cases involving a 'breach of trust' by politicians in the UK tended to attract 'relatively modest custodial sentences'.
Counsel referred specifically to press reports of four MPs who were jailed for expenses fraud in recent years. However Mr McGinn added that it should be noted that the UK have 'a very rigid sentencing guidance structure', unlike Ireland.
Callely's counsel, Michael O'Higgins SC, made reference to the case of former minister Fianna Fail's Ray Burke who was jailed for six months for tax offences in 2005.
Counsel said Burke's offences are not comparable to Callely's as they involved the tax code, which is directly decided by legislators. Mr O'Higgins said the mobile phone expenses scheme is different as it is not a statutory scheme.
He presented a letter from the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee stating this.
However Judge Mary-Ellen Ring said it was 'not a case of a simple mistake or stretching boundaries'. Ivor Callely 'not only broke the law but breached the trust the public had placed in him' she said.
Newstalk's courts correspondent Francesca Comyn described some background on the case to the Pat Kenny Kenny show, and Mr Callely's reaction in court today:
