Taxpayer foots €250k bill for Harvard course

The taxpayer has had to foot a €250,000 bill for sending top local government officials on a management course at Harvard University.

Environment Minister Phil Hogan has revealed that since 2008 it has cost $313,550 (€253,050) to fund 28 senior local government officials in a three-week long management programme, ‘Senior Executives in State and Local Government’, at the prestigious US university.

The body charged with collecting the controversial household charge, the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA), is footing the bill for the course. Its own chief executive, Paul McSweeney, is attending the programme this year.