Harney's six-day 'Super Bowl' trip costs taxpayer €190,000
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HEALTH Minister Mary Harney's controversial 'Super Bowl' trip to the US cost taxpayers almost €190,000.
Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act give the first full breakdown of her six-day visit to the US in February last year.
The trip became mired in controversy after it emerged that Ms Harney attended the Super Bowl during the dental and cancer policy 'fact-finding' trip and missed an important Dail debate on the health services.
During the trip, Ms Harney clocked up 23 hours of flying time on the government jet, spending €11,000 on hotel bills, €3,380 on food and drink and more than €11,000 hiring mini-buses to ferry her seven-member group to and from various engagements.
The government jet was used to fly to five different destinations in the US, including the cities of Prescott and Phoenix in Arizona, Houston in Texas and Washington. The overall cost of the flights, at €7,100 per hour, was €163,300.
Gifts
According to flight records, the Gulfstream jet also flew to Las Vegas during the trip. But the Department of Defence has confirmed this was for "operational reasons" and that Ms Harney and her group were not brought along.
The smallest bill on the visit was for gifts, with just €61 spent on Irish crystal.
The cost has just now been released by the Department of Health under the Freedom of Information Act, more than a year after the request was made. The official reason given was the difficulty in getting receipts from the Department of Foreign Affairs. A spokesman for Ms Harney defended the €187,909 cost of the trip.
"It was a trip that lasted six days and it was a very busy itinerary directly related to the work of the Department of Health," he said.
Ms Harney's trip was not publicised at the time, and details only emerged when the opposition parties questioned why she was absent for a Dail private members motion on the state of the health service.
Ms Harney visited a range of facilities in the US, including the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona, the Anderson Cancer Centre in Houston, Texas; Arizona State University; and Washington DC, where she met the then-deputy secretary of health Dr Tevi David Troy.
The other members of the eight-strong group included her husband Brian Geoghegan, her special adviser Patricia Ryan, her press officer Derek Cunningham, her private secretary Paul Flanagan, and three senior Department of Health officials. Her spokesman described the the bringing of a spouse on an official trip as "normal".
Ms Harney was recently at the centre of controversy over a 2004 trip she took to visit the FAS Space Challenge Programme in Florida -- again using the government jet, and also getting her "wash and blow dry" hairdo bill paid for by FAS.
During a "private day" on the US visit, she was invited to watch the US Super Bowl in Arizona by Science Foundation Arizona president William Harris, who previously headed Science Foundation Ireland.
Ms Harney's spokesman said that she had only accepted an invitation to the match "out of courtesy".
According to those who were present, she looked "bored" and she and her husband left during the third quarter. She missed what was described as one of the best finals in recent memory as the underdogs, the New York Giants, beat the New England Patriots 17-14 with a late touchdown.
The use of the government jet for the trip was approved by then-Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.
During a previous trip to Canada, Ms Harney met Professor Tom Keane, whom she subsequently recruited as the director of the National Cancer Control Programme. Her spokesman denied that there was no need for more inspections of foreign health services and policies after being in the job since 2004.
"I don't think that's something that any government department would accept. The itinerary was put together with a view to learning from the experience from a number of specific health initiatives in the US," he said.
The spokesman said the fruits of Ms Harney's inspections of the "ground-breaking" dental facilities in Arizona would be visible when her new dental services strategy was published this summer.
- Michael Brennan, Political Correspondent
