Leo Varadkar warned over bus lane exemptions for ministers

Former transport minister, Leo Varadkar, warned the government in 2011 that the public could react negatively to legislation that would allow ministers to travel on bus lanes in their own cars while on official business.

Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act show that, despite such fears, the government approved the drafting of legislation to allow ministerial cars to be considered the equivalent of taxis for the use of bus lanes. It was approved at a cabinet meeting on May 3, 2011.

The proposed change was a result of a decision by the Fine Gael-Labour coalition, two months earlier, to restrict the availability of state vehicles to ministers in order to achieve annual savings of €4m. It decided that, in future, all ministers, excluding the taoiseach, tánaiste, and minister for justice, would use their own vehicles under terms that applied to existing ministers of state.