Kenny’s office spends €150k on entertainment

Enda Kenny’s office has spent more than €150,000 on entertainment since he became Taoiseach.

Expenses include costs for dining out with foreign dignitaries as well as accommodating presidents and royalty.

Figures released by Mr Kenny’s office show costs associated with official and state entertainment from Mar 10, 2011, to the end of Aug 2012, amounted to €158,546.

Mr Kenny’s office said all entertainment and provision was tendered for and that the costs related to major events.

A breakdown shows that the greatest amount during the period was spent on catering for the inauguration ceremony for President Michael D Higgins last November.

This amounted to a total of €45,336.03, most of which was spent on catering by the company Fitzers.

Other large amounts were paid out for catering and entertainment for the national day of commemoration — which honours all Irish people who have died in past wars and battles.

Cypress Catering was paid €21,980.56 for this event. A similar amount was spent this year for the same event with catering firm Brambles.

The figures, released to Fianna Fáil’s Dara Calleary, also show that €22,646.02 was provided for catering, mainly in University College Dublin’s O’Reilly Hall, for the funeral of former taoiseach Garrett FitzGerald in May last year.

Another €7,093.75 was spent on Fitzers catering for the state visit of Queen Elizabeth II relating to the wreath-laying ceremony in Islandbridge, in Dublin in the same month.

In April last year, Mr Kenny’s department also spent €6,540.20 for the visit of Prince Albert II of Monaco. This included €5,578.00 spent with Knights Catering as well as a further €962.20 spent on wine which was owned by the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Further figures reveal that Mr Kenny’s office spent nearly €10,000 on a reception for the International Eucharistic Congress in June this year. Knights Catering received €9,639.49 for this.

Other notable events added to entertainment costs for Mr Kenny’s office over the near 20-month period.

These included some €2,957.66 spent on a dinner in honour of outgoing president Mary McAleese in November last year and €12,236.47 spent on entertainment and caterers Vinny Hanlon for the visit of Chinese vice president Xi JingPing in February last year.

Mr Kenny’s department contributed a minor amount for entertainment for the visit of the US president, Barack Obama, and his entourage, spending €970 with Buswell’s Hotel.

Mr Kenny’s department did not reveal more details on the costs but defended them. “The Taoiseach and the Government are extremely mindful of the stringent circumstances in which people find themselves in at this time and all spending strictly adheres to the Department of Finance official entertainment guidelines and is closely monitored by the department’s finance unit.

“It should be noted the figure of €158,000 included seven major national events, some of which were unprecedented in terms of scale,” said a statement.

The department said spending on food and drink for the presidential inauguration last year was 50% less than in 2004.

It also said it incurred no cost on hair and make-up for Mr Kenny since he became Taoiseach.