Gormley expenses list omits €26,500 spent on travel perks
VIP airport lounge charges of € 8,000 were among the expenses initially omitted by Environment Minister John Gormley. Photo: Collins Photo Agency
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Friday December 04 2009
ENVIRONMENT Minister John Gormley was at the centre of a transparency row last night after €26,500 of his foreign travel expenses were omitted from records released by his department.
The bills, mainly for car hire, the use of VIP airport lounges and expensive chauffeur transfers between airport terminals, were not included in a list of costs released this week.
But it quickly became clear that glaring omissions had been made -- and the true figures were released following a complaint from the Irish Independent.
A spokesman for Mr Gormley last night denied there was "any attempt to deceive anyone".
But the incident is a major embarrassment for the Green Party leader, who promised two months ago -- at the height of the John O'Donoghue controversy -- to publish his expenses, saying he was committed to openness and transparency in government.
And despite the full set of expenses finally being released to the Irish Independent, they have yet to be published on the Department of Environment's website.
The department's initial response to a Freedom of Information request left out around 40pc of the €66,000 in costs run up by Mr Gormley on 22 foreign trips since he was appointed minister in 2007.
The omitted expenses included over €8,000 in fees for the use of VIP airport lounges in Dublin, London, Brussels and Frankfurt.
A further €3,000 was spent chauffeuring Mr Gormley between terminals at Heathrow Airport. The controversial limousine service was used by the minister six times in the course of four different foreign visits -- despite the availability of a free shuttle between terminals.
A further €1,800 was spent sending a car from London to pick up Mr Gormley from the ferry port in Holyhead -- to bring him to a climate change conference in Hay-on-Wye, in Wales, in May last year.
Almost €3,600 was also charged by a luxury chauffeur service to provide a biofuel car for Mr Gormley and his wife during a five-day visit to London for St Patrick's Day festivities last year.
The Irish Embassy was billed for 58 hours' car hire, including one day when the car was made available to the minister for 15 hours.
Flights
Flights for Mr Gormley cost over €22,000 in total, while just over €14,000 was spent on hotel accommodation across all the foreign visits. He also claimed over €6,000 in subsistence payments.
The most expensive trip was a UN climate change conference in Bali in December 2007, where Mr Gormley's costs came to €9,700.
This included €4,200 in flights, over €1,000 in chauffeured transfers between airport terminals and €450 for the use of a VIP airport lounge.
Mr Gormley's spokesman last night denied efforts had been made to hide any expenses.
He said "a great deal of information" had been initially provided and that the rest of the expenses had been made available without delay, after the Irish Independent raised the matter with the department.
"Utterly no attempt was made to deceive anybody. No attempt was made to conceal anything," he insisted.
The publication of the expenses online had been "delayed for administrative reasons", said the spokesman.
He added that Mr Gormley had greatly reduced his foreign travel, taking just three journeys on EU business this year, all of which were unavoidable.
Mr Gormley had not been involved in making any of the car hire arrangements, but had instructed that, where possible, a biofuel vehicle -- preferably a people carrier -- be used.
The spokesman added that the minister used public transport whenever possible.
The extensive use of VIP airport lounges was also defended.
"The minister never uses the government jet. He needs to work while travelling. This often involves making confidential phone calls and reading confidential documents," the spokesman said.
In relation to chauffeured transfers between terminals at Heathrow, the spokesman said Mr Gormley had stopped flying through that airport.
- Shane Phelan Investigative Correspondent
Irish Independent
