Politicians' trips leave taxpayer with €1.25m bill

NON-GOVERNMENT foreign travel by TDs and senators has cost the taxpayer at least €1.25 million since June 2002, figures compiled by the Oireachtas have revealed.

The details, released to the Irish Examiner under the Freedom of Information Act, show 326 foreign trips were undertaken by individuals and delegations between June 2002 and August 18 this year to almost 70 countries. Destinations included Thailand, New Zealand, Vietnam, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, Chile and India.

The Oireachtas member with the highest foreign travel costs is Senator Paschal Mooney of Fianna Fáil (€67,000). His Seanad FF colleague Senator Brendan Daly is second highest, with costs of €56,002.

Both are members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) or are on the Irish delegations of the Western European Union (WEU). Only four of the top 17 - former Fine Gael leader John Bruton, Pat Carey of Fianna Fáil, Dr Michael Woods (FF) and Sean Ardagh (FF) - are not members of PACE or the WEU.

The others in the top 10 are: Jim O'Keeffe (FG) €48,017; Noel Davern (FF) €46,713; Joe Jacob (FF) €44,985; Jack Wall (Lab) €34,565; John Bruton (FG) €34,558; Pat Carey (FF) €34,343; Michael Woods (FF) €33,838 and Ned O'Keeffe (FF) €25,709.

All of Mr Bruton's foreign travel, and the bulk of Mr Carey's, was to Brussels during 2002 and 2003 to attend meetings of the Convention on the Future for Europe. Mr Bruton attended 56 meetings in Brussels while Mr Carey attended 26.

Dr Woods makes the list by virtue of his chairmanship of the Foreign Affairs Committee, which, by its nature, is one of the bigger spenders on foreign travel. Mr Ardagh, chairman of the Joint Justice Committee and a member of the Public Accounts Committee, participated on a number of long-haul trips with committee delegations. He was also one of eight Irish parliamentarians who attended an Inter Parliamentary Union Assembly meeting in Chile. The trip cost the taxpayer €67,541 or an average of €8,442 each.

The information reveals that non-Government and non-ministerial travel by backbench and opposition Oireachtas members in 2003 cost the taxpayer circa €800,000. The rules governing travel set out that "scheduled flight-time of six hours or more constitutes long haul travel and entitles (TDs and senators) to business-class tickets".

However, to allow for "flexibility", the rules also state that "members shall be entitled to travel business class or its equivalent on short and long-haul flights". The high costs associated with short-haul trips to Europe suggest the vast majority favour business class.

The Green Party, Sinn Féin and Independent TD Seamus Healy have all criticised the volume of foreign travel, saying some trips had an element of 'junketeering' about them.