Fergus O'Dowd makes complaint to Dáil ethics watchdog about Fianna Fáil's Lisa Chambers
The development follows a report in the Sunday Independent which claimed Ms Chambers sat in the seat of and voted on behalf of Fianna Fáil's Timmy Dooley on seven occasions on 17 January this year. Ms Chambers has said the incident was "entirely normal" as Mr Dooley was present in the Chamber.
The warning is expected to say that a repetition of the contravention of the rules of the Oireachtas could lead to a finding that Ms Chambers had acted "recklessly or intentionally". The complaint states: "I would bring to the Committee's attention a radio interview given by Deputy Chambers to RTÉ's Morning Ireland programme on the 21st of October this year in the context of the complaint in relation to voting for Deputy Calleary.
In response to the complaint by Mr O'Dowd, a spokesman for Fianna Fáil said that if the Committee of Members Interests decide to pursue "this vexatious" complaint the committee was in for a very "busy period". Following the report in the Sunday Independent yesterday, Ms Chambers told RTÉ that her colleague Timmy Dooley had confirmed that he was in the Dáil chamber at the time of the vote, and that it was "entirely normal" for her to be sitting in Mr Dooley's seat.