EPA defends spending taxpayers’ money on opera and yo-yos

THE state’s environmental and waste watchdog has been forced to defend itself after spending thousands of euro in taxpayers’ money on corporate sponsorship and promotional trinkets.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which has suffered reductions in staff and budgets due to cutbacks, still found money to spend on sponsoring operas, providing “team-building” outings for staff, purchasing paintings and bulk-buying EPA-branded fridge magnets, T-shirts, rubber balls, water bottles and yo-yos.

Figures released under a Freedom of Information request show €87,000 was given to the Wexford Opera Festival to help defray the costs of the annual event since 2008 while the RTÉ television series, Eco Eye, presented by Duncan Stewart, cost the agency €350,000.

Sums of between €350 and €3,500 were spent on a variety of paintings for EPA headquarters in Wexford and its various regional offices, while sums ranging from close to €3,000 to almost €8,000 went on promotional trinkets.

The EPA’s main activities, according to its own descriptions, are the protection of the Irish environment through licensing, enforcement and monitoring activities but it does also have an education brief.

In a statement, it said many of the promotional materials were distributed to children at exhibitions “as a means of promoting environmental awareness and education”. It also said it supported cultural events as part of its “corporate social responsibility”.

The agency has an annual budget of around €70 million and a staff of 340. In its most recent annual report, for 2009, it said it was having to operate with reduced budgets and staff numbers because of cutbacks and had lost seven staff members who were not being replaced because of the recruitment moratorium.

Among the items of non-wage expenditure on staff were a treasure hunt, drumming event and cookery class at adventure and activity centres, while spending on fixtures and fittings included €60 on a door handle for the ladies’ toilet at EPA headquarters and almost €9,000 on three televisions and Sky TV subscription.

The agency said: “The EPA is satisfied that the Staff Development Programme is delivering significant benefits in improving team working and related efficiencies across the organisation and represents excellent value for money.”