Junket to China tops €500,000 TD travel bill

BACKBENCH TDs and senators spent €500,000 last year on foreign travel, including a number of fact-finding trips to exotic long-haul destinations.

Deputies and senators travelled far and wide on behalf of the taxpayer in 2005, according to information supplied to the Irish Examiner in response to a Freedom of Information request.

Among the more distant destinations non-ministerial parliamentarians visited last year were the USA, Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Africa, South Korea and Vietnam.