Central Bank to stop paying for non-staff trips

The Governor of the Central Bank Patrick Honohan has said the practice of paying for spouses of staff members on trips abroad will no longer take place.

The Central Bank has admitted it had paid for 62 non-staff trips between 2007 and 2008.

Up to 52 of these trips related to spouses attending 49 meetings.

Mr Honohan said he was not aware that the organisation had been covering the cost of so many spouse trips and while some of this expenditure could perhaps have been justifiable in the past, the practice does not seem appropriate in present circumstances.