An Bord Bia serves up a €136,000 air-fare bill
EXECUTIVES at An Bord Bia clocked up flights costing more than €136,000 in a year while promoting Irish food to foreigners.
In a breath-taking itinerary, more than 70 people employed by, or guests of the Irish food agency were flown to destinations as diverse as Nashville, Jakarta and Tokyo. The 202 global trips between June 2007 and June last year included 18 business class flights to long-haul destinations which cost €73,215.
Most of the travellers were senior executives at An Bord Bia, the state agency which develops markets for Irish food, drink and horticulture. Guests of the agency included two government ministers, two board members and two junior ministers. Guest speakers, journalists, food consultants, advisers, and civil servants from the Department of Agriculture and Food also travelled at taxpayers' expense
Tanaiste Mary Coughlan billed An Bord Bia for her accommodation costs when she flew to Italy as Agriculture Minister to launch an exhibition at an international trade show in May. Her expenses came to €438.50, but the cost of her flight was picked up by the department.
Trevor Sargent, the Food Minister, was in Milan in October promoting An Bord Bia's stand at the Salone de Gusto slow food fair. His flight costs were not available but the agency did pay his expenses, which came to a respectable €279 for accommodation.
Also at the slow food fair were two members of An Bord Bia's board of directors: Brid Rogers, formerly Northern Ireland's agriculture minister, and Katherine O'Leary, a farmer and writer. Both flew to Milan in economy class at a cost of €241.27 per flight. Their expenses, which cover accommodation, came to €540 and €370 respectively.
Aidan Cotter, the chief executive, travelled abroad eight times at a cost of €5,521. In line with agency policy, he flew economy to London, Paris and Milan, but flew business class to Cape Town and Johannesburg in January, accompanying the then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern on a trade mission at a cost of €3,840.50. His trips incurred expenses of €4,899, including €1889 from one trip to South Africa.
The most expensive flight by a Bord Bia executive was a €7,719 business class fare in February to take Michael Murphy, director of markets, to a food industry exhibition in Dubai and onwards to Tokyo, as part of a ministerial trade mission to Japan.
He had already flown business class to Japan in January, at a cost of €5,519.60 to prepare for the trade mission and opening of a new office in Shanghai. Mr Murphy, one of the agency's frequent fliers, travelled economy for 10 of the 13 flights he took during the period. Advisors and food experts flown economy class to various food events in Europe included Hugo Arnold, the food writer (Paris, €154.22); Kevin Sheridan, the cheese specialist, (London, €264); and four journalists flown to Paris to report on the food agency's involvement with the international food show SIAL (total cost, €1,654.80) in October.
Others who travelled extensively included Patrick Moore, the president of the International Meat Secretariat and a former executive in the Irish food sector. He flew business class to Beijing (€5476) and Tokyo (€5,104) and economy to Krakow and Cape Town.
Gerard Brickley, director of meat at An Bord Bia, took six flights, twice flying business class. They included a trip to a conference in Nashville to recruit speakers at the America's annual meat conference in March. The flights cost €3,859.97.
Mr Brickley also accompanied then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern on his trade mission to South Africa in January, where he organised an Irish meat seminar, flying business class at a cost of €2,635.96. He flew economy to Cape Town in November to address a world meat congress.
The Sunday Independent obtained the figures under the Freedom of Information Act. In a letter accompanying the documents, An Bord Bia said that employees must travel economy in Europe. Executives are allowed business class travel on long-haul flights only after getting clearance from the chief executive or a director. Last year Irish food and drink exports were valued at €8.6bn and went to 160 countries.
- MAEVE SHEEHAN
