Patrick’s Day exodus unjustified

Ministers going abroad for St Patrick’s Day are an easy target and while the usual mantra about the return on the cost of the flights and five-star hotels is trotted out to justify the exodus, it is reasonable to ask where is the evidence for this claimed return on this investment.

It is also fair to ask why the same level of scrutiny over the cost of ministers’ travel isn’t applied to those from local government who also go on these trips and at their taxpayers’ expense too.

The argument that these trips bring business to Ireland is simply not credible because it is nonsense to argue that a business makes a decision to invest in Ireland on the basis of whether or not a minister attends the local St Patrick’s Day event.