O’Flynn oversees E500,000 in travel money

Michael O’Farrell, Political Reporter

As the chairman of the Oireachtas committee charged with overseeing the annual spending of all Dáil committees, Deputy O’Flynn will this year allocate a domestic and foreign travel budget of E500,000.

This year’s allocation is up slightly on last year’s figure of E489,000, not all of which was actually spent.

Deputy O’Flynn, who is also chairman of the Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, is one of four TDs travelling in Argentina and Chile, on a trip that yesterday attracted considerable criticism on RTÉ’s Joe Duffy radio programme.

Along with Deputy O’Flynn, Fianna Fail TDs Peter Kelly and Denis O’Donovan and Fine Gael’s John Perry will spend 12 days in South America at an estimated cost of E13,500.

In a press release circulated before the trip, Deputy O’Flynn said the group would visit aquaculture farms in Chile as well as discuss “bio-mass energy and port-related activities” with Argentinean parliamentarians.

Although he could not be reached for further comment last night, Deputy O’Flynn has persistently denied that trips abroad are being used by politicians as free junkets.