Ministerial cars: No new vehicles

IN the wake of public outrage at the use of ministerial state cars, the Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern said no new ministerial cars had been bought since 2008 and he did not intend to buy new cars.

He said: “The car that I have is two years old and has nearly 300,000km and that shows the level of activity that I go through and it’s the same for other ministers. It would be impractical to use our own cars. We will keep under review the arrangements. The ... people who drive us are protection as well, and there is dual purpose.”

Mr Ahern said at weekends he uses his own car and cycles in and out of Dundalk without the car travelling behind him.