O Cuiv defends his €20,000 on chauffeurs in two years
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Thursday November 12 2009
A GOVERNMENT minister spent €20,000 on chauffeur services while on foreign trips over the past two years.
Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Minister Eamon O Cuiv racked up the bill during 12 of his 16 official trips abroad. The lavish spend on limousines, SUVs and other luxury chauffeur services included tips totalling €1,500 during three US visits.
Mr O Cuiv last night defended the amounts, but admitted some of the car hire was "very expensive" and that costs would have to be cut in future.
Controversy
The minister became the latest leading politician to become embroiled in the expenses controversy after details of his expenditure were obtained to the Irish Independent.
The revelations come just weeks after Transport Minister Noel Dempsey admitted he was "very unhappy" with €13,750 spent on chauffeur services during seven recent foreign trips.
In contrast, Mr O Cuiv last night defended his use of luxury car hire firms, stating it was often necessary as "public transport is usually not an option given the range of meetings at dispersed locations".
Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act revealed expenditure on chauffeur transport for Mr O Cuiv and his entourage since July 2007 accounted for over a quarter of the minister's overall foreign travel bill of €74,000.
This figure included flights for officials who accompanied Mr O Cuiv on foreign visits, but not their accommodation costs.
Mr O Cuiv's wife Aine accompanied him on seven foreign visits, paying her own expenses on five occasions.
Taxpayers met her travel costs for visits to India in March last year and New York the following month.
Flights for Mrs Ui Chuiv cost €1,650 for the St Patrick's festival visits to Mumbai and Delhi. The couple stayed three days at the €505-a-night Oberoi Hotel in Mumbai. A further three days were spent at the luxury Taj Mahal Hotel in New Delhi, at €490 a night.
Documents also reveal the minister and his wife took a two-week holiday in Australia between the India and New York visits. Despite it being a private holiday, the flights from Delhi to Brisbane and Brisbane to New York were initially paid for by Mr O Cuiv's department.
Mr O Cuiv reimbursed the department for the flight costs for him and his wife, which totalled almost €4,200, a month after they returned home.
In an internal memo penned after Mr O Cuiv had reimbursed the flight costs, the minister's private secretary, Sorcha De Bruch, defended the unusual arrangement.
"It was agreed the department would initially pay for all of the flights, but the minister would then refund the department," she said.
"This was the most efficient way of booking flights at late notice, and this was agreed with the accounts branch of the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs."
In a statement last night, Mr O Cuiv defended the extensive use of chauffeurs. He also said that tips were service charges built into the bill.
"In certain countries, particularly the United States, car hire can be very expensive and in many locations there may be no embassy car available. In the US, gratuities are automatically included in the invoices for car hire and are not discretionary," the statement said.
Mr O Cuiv said the possible use of train travel had been examined on some trips, but found to be not practicable.
Attendance
The minister also defended the use of taxpayers' money to pay for his wife's attendance on some foreign visits.
"The attendance of spouses on St Patrick's Day trips, or where a spouse was specifically invited, has been general practice. These circumstances applied in relation to the Mumbai/New York trips. The role of spouse on such occasions has been to participate fully in social events," the statement said.
However, Mr O Cuiv said that steps were being taken to keep costs to a minimum in future.
- Shane Phelan Investigative Correspondent
Irish Independent
