Taxpayers charged €4 for Ryan’s ride along the Seine

WITH every cent counting in these recessionary times, perhaps taxpayers will not begrudge being charged for Energy Minister Eamon Ryan’s Parisian bike ride — all e4 worth of it.

Whilst some might say Mr Ryan’s thoroughness in getting the state to pay for his cycle by the Seine may seem a tad mean, others will applaud his pedal power panache, in light of the casual way some cabinet colleagues think nothing of splurging e8,000 an hour on the Government jet.

The Green eco-warrior took to the saddle as part of the Great St Patrick’s Day Ministerial Race to get as far around the globe as possible at the taxpayers’ expense — all in the selfless good cause of forcing foreigners to think kindly of the Emerald Isle.

Compared to the e44,150 spent by the then Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern visiting Argentina, Mr Ryan’s e1,833 tally for two days in Paris seems modest.

Whilst most ministers were content to include accompanying officials, and sometimes spouses, under vague headings like “subsistence” and “gifts”, Mr Ryan ensured his green credentials would be noticed with his defiant e4-bill for a bike.

The Government has hinted this year’s junket- fest, sorry, essential diplomatic initiative, will be scaled back.

Travel will be kept to a “reasonable minimum”, according to Tánaiste and Enterprise Minister Mary Coughlan — who spent e164,000 on a Government jet trip to Texas last December in a belated and failed bid to save Dell jobs in Limerick, which was branded a PR stunt by opposition parties.

As final tallies for last year’s St Patrick’s Day worldwide wander emerged in parliamentary answers, they showed the Taoiseach and 25 ministers fanned out across the globe at a total cost of e460,000.

While the amount of face time the Taoiseach gets with the US President on the annual visit to Washington DC is viewed enviously by other countries, taxpayers will be wishing wander-lust ministers do what Mr Ryan did with his Parisian push bike — park it.