Senator Ivor Callely has insisted he did not break any expenses rules - but vowed to cough up the money if he was proved wrong.
At a public Seanad meeting over his 81,000 euro travel and overnight claims, the ex-Dublin North Central TD said he had moved to his Cork home in 2007 after the shock of losing his Dail position.
The Fianna Fail Senator, who resigned as junior transport minister in 2005 following controversy over renovations on his Clontarf property, said the scandal and subsequent loss of his seat had been a traumatic experience.
