Golfing Senator 'Calls Off' Seanad Sittings

A leading senator has been accused of cancelling sittings of the Seanad in order to go golfing.

Fianna Fail's Donie Cassidy has been asked to resign after it emerged he and other members spent Tuesday on a golf course after the senator cancelled Tuesday sittings without explanation.

Many senators expressed surprise after the announcement that the chamber will not sit on Tuesdays for the rest of May.

A notice on the Schedule of Business for this week in the Houses of the Oireachtas said: "Please Note: Seanad Éireann adjourned until Wednesday 13 May 2009 at 2.30pm."

Mr Cassidy, who is leader of the Upper House, is said to have reduced the days the Seanad was in session without consultation. Normally, members meet three days a week, from Tuesday to Thursday.

However, on Tuesday, Senators did not meet when the Oireachtas Golf Society held an event at Portmarnock Golf Club.

Fine Gael Senator Francis Fitzgerald said Mr Cassidy was running the house with arrogance, making "arbitrary" decisions on sitting times.

Her party colleague, Senator Jerry Buttimer, said: "If the leader cannot do his job, he should resign and let others do the job. Go leader, resign and let us debate issues of interest to the people."

Mr Cassidy said this week that the golf and the Seanad not sitting were unrelated.

Senator Cassidy was elected to Seanad Éireann on the Labour Panel in July 2007. He is spokesperson on the Taoiseach and Northern Ireland.

Mr Cassidy is a keen property owner, and is believed to own several hotels and has recently completed another on the site of the National Wax Museum, which he also owned.

He also owns Celtic Note, a specialist Irish music store on Dublin's Nassau Street and since 1984 he owns a franchise to sell CDs and DVDs at Dublin Airport.

He also owns several buildings in Mullingar, along with record and music publishing companies.

(DW/BMcc)