State Papers – Day One: Haughey lunched for Ireland as costs ran out of control

CHARLIE HAUGHEY may have been lecturing the nation about living beyond its means but he didn’t give a second thought to lunching beyond his department’s means.

As newly-elected Taoiseach in 1980, he spent all of the year’s allocation for official entertainment within the first six months and was impervious to warnings from the Department of Finance that costs would have to be kept under control.

Files show the lunches and dinners he hosted for visiting dignitaries regularly exceeded official spending allowances — often costing twice as much as they were meant to.

A letter from the department to the Taoiseach in March, 1980, sets out his spending limits for the year. He had £30,000 to work with and was to limit the cost per person of lunches and dinners as follows: £19 for a dinner, £13.50 for lunch or £4.50 for a reception hosted by himself or his minister of state, and £14 for dinner, £10 for lunch or £4.50 for a reception hosted by a departmental secretary or assistant secretary.

“In recent years overall expenditure on State entertainment has shown a very substantial volume increase. It is clear that this growth will need to be curtailed in line with Government policy in relation to public expenditure in the current year,” the letter states. “The Government have directed the Minister for Finance not to approve any supplementary estimates in 1980, save in very limited circumstances. This direction will be strictly adhered to by the Minister for Finance. It is imperative therefore for Departments to ensure that their allocation is not exceeded.”

It continued: “Prior sanction of the Minister for Finance must be obtained before any commitments are made in regard to functions which it is proposed to hold in 1981 and after where the cost is more than £500.”

The letter had little effect on the Taoiseach as his officials wrote to Finance in April seeking retrospective sanction for overspending on a lunch for then president of the European Commission, Roy Jenkins. “There were eight guests present and the total cost was £323.16”, the letter stated.

“The cost of the lunch exceeded that allowed under the limit for such functions by £215.16. This excess arose due to general increases in the cost of catering and to the selection of a menu which was in keeping with the usual standards for such occasions hosted by the Taoiseach.”

Finance wasn’t impressed, especially as it was one of three recent lunches where spending limits had been breached, the others being for MEPs and the Iraqi ambassador. “It is noted that the excess that arose in the case of the function at (i) above [for Mr Jenkins] was over twice the sanctioned per person limit, and I am to request that every effort should be made in future to stay within the appropriate limits,” the official wrote in reply in May.

The pleas fell on deaf ears. In May, Haughey spent nearly £17,000 on one visit alone, laying on a lunch on Garnish Island in West Cork for West German president Dr Karl Carstens, as well as a dinner in Dublin Castle and a lunch in Iveagh House for the same guest.

Two months later in July, Finance was again on the Taoiseach’s case after the discovery that he had run up bills totalling £6,085 for a reception in Dublin Castle for the newly appointed Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, Dr John Armstrong. He also spent £1,466 on flowers for the occasion, including a display of the “Archbishop’s Crest done in flowers”.

Finance sanctioned the excess on the reception — even though it was £3,051.86 more than allowed — but the flower bill couldn’t go without comment. The official tasked with raising the issue with Haughey wrote: “I am to say, however, that this department considers that the expenditure on flowers (£1,466) for the reception was very high. Every effort should be made in the future to keep expenditure of this kind within reasonable limits.”

Once again, Haughey was indifferent to Finance’s concerns. In August, his officials wrote to Finance to advise that he would need an increased entertainment budget in 1981 as he had already spent £29,156.10 of the £30,000 allowance allocated for 1980.

“The estimate of £50,000 [for 1981] shows an increase of 66 and two-thirds percent over the allocation for 1980. The 1980 allocation has already been exceeded and the 1981 estimate is framed to take account of the sharp increase in costs in the area of State entertainment,” the letter states baldly.

He continued to overspend for the remainder of the year and in September, he spent £799.96 on a lunch provided by caterers from the Royal Hibernian Hotel at Iveagh House for the Portuguese prime minister — more than double the allowance set by Finance for the occasion.

Among the items of expenditure that had to be retrospectively approved by Finance were 17 cigars at £34, 80, cigarettes at £2.82 and a very fine 1914 Frapin brandy that cost £14.70. Haughey also hosted a dinner for the prime minister at his Abbeville home that cost the State £232.15, £109.95 of which the Taoiseach paid personally for groceries provided by caterers which he recouped from Finance.

The same month he spent £366.63 on a lunch he hosted for the French European Commissioner and former president of the European Commission, Francois-Xavier Ortoli, exceeding official limits by £198.88.

Special sanction had to be obtained on this occasion for expenditure of £15.75 on a side of smoked salmon to present to Ortoli.