Callely has paid a higher price than a prison sentence

Ivor Callely was first elected as a TD in 1989, the year I joined Northside People. He was a great man for feeding stories to his local paper, always making sure you knew that he was giving you the 'exclusive' first and at the expense of the national media.

The first time I met him was on Bull Island causeway in the heart of his Dublin North Central constituency. I was working on a story about a proposal to breach the causeway to prevent silting in the bay. Naturally, Callely was giving me the lowdown first. If memory serves me correctly, he pulled up that day in a Merc. A lot of flash for a mere backbench TD but each to his own, I suppose. Dapper as always, he was smartly dressed in a suit, which was pretty much how you'd expect your local representative to look.

•Ivor Callely pictured in his office just after his appointment as Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, June 2002. PHOTO BY DARREN KINSELLA

Callely seemed to subscribe to the theory that to be successful, you had to appear successful. It would be at least another decade before he would be appointed a junior minister but that day he already looked the part. Seemingly, in Ivor Callely's mind, being a local TD was simply a dress rehearsal for greater things to come.

His stated ambition to one day become Taoiseach was not as fanciful as it seemed. Callely was one of the biggest vote-getters in the country and was nothing short of a local legend with his constituents. He had a reputation as a hard worker; a fixer; a politician who got things done. He was a familiar face on the funeral circuit.

But 'Ivor the Engine' was viewed with suspicion by his political rivals. The late Sean Dublin Bay Loftus once told me in no uncertain terms that he had little time for him. Unsurprisingly, Callely was seen as a constant threat to the Haughey political dynasty. His critics dismissed him as a delusional dreamer with ideas above his station.

But it was impossible for Bertie Ahern to ignore such a consistently strong performer in elections and Callely finally got the nod in 2002 when he was given a junior ministry at the Department of Health. He was later moved to the Department of Transport before it all came crashing down spectacularly over a free paint job to his Clontarf home by a developer who had carried out work for the Eastern Health Board in the early 1990s, when Callely had served as chairman.

From this point onwards, his political career descended into chaotic freefall. In the wake of his resignation from ministerial office, Callely's star was on the wane and his once-loyal constituents dumped him as a TD in the 2007 General Election. Bertie gave him a dig-out by appointing him to the Seanad but this would turn out to be Callely's undoing. His tenure as a senator was dogged by a long-running expenses controversy that ultimately resulted in his jailing this week for making fraudulent mobile phone claims.

Ivor Callely, now aged 56, is a shadow of his former self. He seems haunted by the events of recent years and the stress has clearly taken its toll. Personally, I feel sympathy for his family. Jailing Callely doesn't seem to make economic sense. The cost of imprisoning him will be far greater than the few grand he ripped us off for. But the general consensus seems to be that the judge made the right decision on the basis that there was a breach of trust involved by a person holding a position of public office. It's hard to argue with her reasoning.

Ivor Callely is highly unlikely to make a political comeback. He has suffered enormous reputational damage that far outweighs the length of his custodial sentence. Even if he only serves a portion of his time behind bars, he will have paid a high price for his serious errors of judgement and blatant sense of entitlement.

And for that, he should be afforded the opportunity to rebuild his life as a private citizen.