Irish Speaker in resign statement

John O'Donoghue will make statement on Tuesday

The Speaker of the Irish Parliament, John O'Donoghue, will make a statement later about the expenses controversy that led to his resignation.

Last week Mr O'Donoghue said he would resign after criticism of the expenses he incurred both as a Minister and in his current position.

It is expected he will give his side of the expenses story.

The House will then elect a new speaker; Seamus Kirk of Fianna Fail is favourite to take the job.

Mr O'Donoghue has been dogged by allegations that he used expenses to fund extravagant trips, mainly related to horse racing events.

Limousine

Pressure grew on Tuesday last week when opposition parties called for his resignation.

Records released on Friday showed that in addition to his salary, he had claimed more than 200,000 euros in expenses over the past two years.

The Sunday Tribune newspaper published a series of revelations about his spending, including reports that he had taken a limousine between two terminals at Heathrow Airport rather than the airport's free shuttle service - a three-minute journey.

He incurred 90,000 euros in foreign travel expenses since becoming Speaker, or Ceann Comhairle, in June 2007, and spent more than half a million euros on travel while minister for tourism between 2002 and 2007.