Updated 18.05

A court has been asked to consider community service for former junior minister Ivor Callely who received €4,000 from bogus mobile phone claims.

Callely (56) with an address at St. Lawrence's Road in Clontarf admits submitting six fake invoices at Leinster House between 2007 and 2009.

Lawyers for Ivor Callely described this as a dark day for the former Fianna Fail politician, as they urged the court to consider a non-custodial sentence.

They say he knows he did wrong and he is ready to take the medicine.

Whatever pill the one-time junior minister has to swallow, is likely to be administered next Monday when this sentencing hearing resumes.

The court heard he received over €4,000 by abusing a mobile phone expenses scheme at Leinster House following his appointment to the Seanad in 2007.

He submitted six fake invoices for mobile handsets and car kits dating back to 2002 - but paid most of the money back when a journalist made a freedom of information request about his expenses.