MYSTERY SURROUNDS THE identity of the TD or Senator who made over €2,000 worth of calls to a mobile phone number in Kenya from Leinster House.

Oireachtas authorities said they are prohibited from monitoring politicians’ calls.

Details of the calls emerged after RTÉ released data on TDs and Senators’ expenses that it obtained under Freedom of Information.

The details show that a deputy or senator made the calls from Leinster House to the mobile phone number in Kenya between 2011 and 2013. The calls were consistently the most expensive made from Leinster House.

Calls to the Kenyan number accounted for 38 out of the 100 most expensive calls during late 2011 and 2012, according to the Oireachtas records. In 2013 calls to the number accounted for 16 of the 100 most expensive calls made that year.

RTÉ’s Ken Foxe appealed to the Information Commissioner for the details of the politician involved to be released. But the Commissioner agreed with the Oireachtas’s view that the number should not be released.

The Commissioner said that the right to privacy of an individual was stronger than the public interest in ensuring openness and accountability in the spending of public money.

This is not the first time that phone calls placed from Leinster House have caused controversy.

In June 2011, the former Kerry South TD Jackie Healy-Rae paid back more than €2,500 after it was discovered that thousands of calls were made to an RTÉ reality show that his son and future TD Michael Healy-Rae was participating in.

As previously disclosed by this website, Leinster House authorities do not keep any log of internet browsing data or call history for any member of the Oireachtas or their staff because of privacy and confidentiality guaranteed under the Constitution.