Ministers’ expenses - Excess is not acceptable

WHAT is it about some Government ministers that when they represent this country abroad, they tend to splurge taxpayers’ money as if there was no tomorrow.

Admittedly, they have a tough job and, generally speaking, they’re hard working. Nor would anybody deny their entitlement to stay in a decent hotel. But that doesn’t mean politicians have a God-given right to bask in the luxurious surroundings of hotels where the denizens normally come from the millionaire classes.

The latest case of ministerial extravagance, as reported in the Sunday Tribune, concerns former Arts, Sport and Tourism Minister John O’Donoghue, now Ceann Comhairle. Data released under the Freedom of Information Act shows his department forked out €900 a night for an apartment in a Paris hotel, paid €7,591 on airport pick-ups during a two-day ministerial trip to London.