FIANNA FÁIL SENATOR Terry Leyden has cancelled a planned event at his new bar in Roscommon after controversy over his use of Oireachtas stationery to send out invites.
Leyden used Oireachtas envelopes to distribute invitations to the event at the Castlecoote Lodge Bar and Lounge tomorrow night, an event that party leader Micheál Martin was expected to attend.
The senator opened the bar last week saying that former party leader Charlie Haughey “would be there in spirit” and that current boss Martin would be making a “I will be Taoiseach speech” this Wednesday.
However the Sunday World reported that Leyden had used Oireachtas envelopes to distribute invites and had insisted to the paper that the event was a political one.
Leyden, in a statement, said he has now decided to cancel the event at the venue which includes a replica of the Oireachtas Private Members’ Bar.
Instead, Leyden has now said he will pay back the costs of posting out the invitations using Oireachtas envelopes. Fianna Fáil said this follows a request from Martin for the money to be reimbursed.
“When I distributed invitations for a local political event using Oireachtas envelopes, I believed that this was permitted within the rules,” Leyden said in his statement.
“However, I now accept that this was inappropriate and an error of judgement on my part. The Oireachtas has been fully reimbursed for this mistake.”
The Fianna Fáil senator could not be reached for comment this morning.
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