Government agency spends €315k to send officials to college

The cost to the taxpayer of sending a select number of senior local government officials to an exclusive management course at Harvard University tops €315,000 for the past seven years, figures show.

Between 2008 and 2014, it cost the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) €315,564 to fund 35 senior local government officials in a three-week long management programme, ‘Senior executives in state and local government’ at Harvard.

The LGMA, which was initially charged with collecting the household charge, is footing the bill for the course. Its own chief executive, Paul McSweeney, attending the programme in 2012, along with Dublin City Council chief executive Owen Keegan.