High-priced flights of fancy

Political Editor Harry McGee wonders how much of the €1.25 million spent by TDs and senators on foreign travel in the two years to August 2004 was a necessary expense.

THE old recruitment poster that told young men that if they joined the navy they would see the world has a modern equivalent in Ireland. The 2004 take on it should go something like this: Get elected to the Oireachtas, and even if you never graduate from the back benches, never fear, you will still see the world.

Early last month, the Irish Examiner revealed the extraordinary extent of foreign travel undertaken on behalf of the nation by our TDs and senators.