Government officials chalk up credit card expenses of €900,000

POLITICIANS and public servants charged €900,775 in credit card expenses last year doing "official" State business, an Irish Examiner survey has revealed.

But the real figure is much higher because three Government departments refused to reveal how much their politicians and civil servants spent on credit cards on the grounds that they did not compile these specific records.

Justice Minister Michael McDowell, Enterprise, Trade and Employment Minister Micheál Martin and Arts, Sport and Tourism Minister John O'Donoghue are in charge of the departments who refused this Freedom of Information (FoI) request.

These departments said they do not keep separate records of credit card spending. Mr McDowell's department said it would be an "unreasonable interference" in the day-to-day running of this section to get officials to sift through individual credit card statements.

Ten of the 16 departments surveyed would not give a detailed breakdown on how much each minister and junior minister spent.

The opposition yesterday called for the Comptroller and Auditor General to check these credit card expenses to ensure the taxpayer is not being ripped-off by "high-living" ministers, advisors and civil servants.

"The ordinary taxpayer is picking up the tab for these expenses incurred by ministers who are becoming so arrogant they now believe they are accountable to no one," Labour's Finance spokeswoman Joan Burton said.

Among those who revealed exact details, the biggest spender was former Defence Minister Michael Smith and his private secretary. They charged €26,943 up to September 2004 when Mr Smith was dropped from the Cabinet.

The second biggest spender was former Junior Marine Minister John Browne's private secretary, who clocked up €16,872.

The Transport Minister's office was the third biggest spender, with €11,869, while Martin Cullen was in office and under the present incumbent Dick Roche.

Surprisingly, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, who would be expected to be the biggest spender, incurred no expenses on his credit card in 2004. And his private secretary only clocked up €1,606.

Mr Ahern's spokesman said most of his expenses are not paid by credit card and a separate FoI request would have to be made to get that information.

The biggest spender among the advisors in Mr Ahern's department was Katherine Bulbulia, Tánaiste Mary Harney's programme manager, who spent €9,022 - two-thirds of which was on "official entertainment".

The biggest-spending department was Agriculture and Food, where a total of €272,730.63 was spent. This is because two ministers and 111 officials - many travelling to Brussels on business - have credit cards.

The second-biggest spending department was Foreign Affairs - €122,752 in credit card expenses claimed by ministers and ambassadors. The Department of Transport was the third-biggest spender, where €100,892 was spent.

Labour and Fine Gael yesterday called for a reform of the auditing of official credit card expenses.

"A new auditing system must be put in place that will allow the Comptroller and Auditor General to publish figures on where exactly the money was spent," Fine Gael's Finance spokesman Richard Bruton said.

But all departments insisted the €900,775 was spent on legitimate Government business - travel, entertainment and the purchase of goods and services.

They said spending must be sanctioned by their own finance officers, within the strict regulations of the Department of Finance.

Cabinet costs - Biggest spending Government departments:

Agriculture: €272,730.

Foreign Affairs: €122,752.

Transport: €100,892.

Communications, Marine and Natural Resources: €97,171.

Taoiseach: €72,650.