Oireachtas ups spend for overseas trips

Join the Oireachtas and see the world… new figures show that the spend by TDs and senators on overseas travel last year increased from €218,799 to €230,313.

During 2014, TDs and senators fanned across the globe with destinations including Iran, Japan, Vilnius, Budapest, the Philippines, Tallinn, Turkey, Kiev, Sofia, New York City, Athens, Beijing, Uganda, Oslo, Doha, Latvia, Moldova, and Baku in Azerbaijan.

The spend of €230,313 — a 5% increase on the 2013 figure — on 424 flights comprises flight, hotel, and general expense costs. Overall travel expenditure by the Oireachtas has been reduced by 75% since 2008.

The overseas travel arises out of Ireland’s membership of international parliamentary assemblies as well as fact-finding missions by TDs and senators.

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The most expensive return flight was €3,333, spent on a business flight to Japan in February. It was a trip undertaken by five members that cost the taxpayer €16,665 in airline tickets alone. The five were TD Jack Wall (Lab) and senators Ned O’Sullivan (FF), Pat O’Neill (FG), Terry Brennan (FG), and Paddy Burke (FG).

The figures, released in response to a request under the Freedom of Information Act, show that senator Sean Barrett (Ind) spent €2,445 on a return flight to Iran at the end of September for the purpose of a 24-hour-long ‘speaker visit’.

Mr Barrett’s ‘hotel conference’ bill came to €229 with the amount of expenses incurred totalling €210, leaving the Oireachtas with an overall bill of €2,884 for the one-night trip.

Tehran was a particular favourite destination last year. TDs Pat Breen (FG), Eric Byrne (Lab), Sean Crowe (SF), and Maureen O’Sullivan (Ind) and former senator Deirdre Clune undertook the five-night trip in January to discuss bilateral relations with Iranian parliamentarians. The overall cost of the trip was €4,167; the group did not have to pay for their hotel accommodation.

The most expensive flight on that trip was made by Mr Breen, a Clare TD, who paid €1,012 for his flights; Mr Byrne paid €848 and Ms Clune paid €881.

The figures show that Mr Breen clocked up a lot of long-haul air miles last year. As well as Tehran, the back-bencher made a five-night visit to Uganda, a 13-night trip to Beijing in August, and spent six nights in the Philippines last November.

There was no cost to the Oireachtas for these three trips.

Mr Breen also spent seven nights in the US for St Patrick’s Day last year, as part of Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s official delegation. The cost to the Oireachtas was €1,594.

Six Oireachtas members decamped to Baku in Azerbaijan for six days last June for the annual session of the Organisation for Co-operation and Security in Europe. The six were TDs Alan Farrell (FG), Arthur Spring (Lab), and Stephen Donnelly (Ind), Junior Minister Ann Phelan (Lab), Arts Minister Heather Humphreys (FG), and senator Jim Walsh (Ind).

The cost of the trip to the taxpayer was €16,040, including €1,227 on Mr Donnelly’s flights. The hotel bills for each member of the trip amounted to €1,113.

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