Oireachtas approved O'Donoghue's trips abroad with his wife
Monday November 30 2009
FORMER Ceann Comhairle John O'Donoghue was given permission by the cross-party Oireachtas Commission to bring his wife with him on his controversial foreign trips.
He was also given the go-ahead to hire five extra staff and to have access to a travel and entertainment budget of €200,000 when he took office.
The decision was made at a meeting of the 11-member Oireachtas Commission, which was chaired by Mr O'Donoghue in November 2007. The policy document approved by members, which was released under the Freedom of Information Act, stated: "The travel expenses of an office holder's spouse/partner may be met where there is a social element to the travel activity -- subject to the sanction of the secretary general or his nominee."
The revelation will raise questions about why Fine Gael and Labour members of the commission did not come forward and explain that they had specifically sanctioned elements of Mr O'Donoghue's lavish expenditure.
At the Oireachtas Commission meeting were: John O'Donoghue (chairman); FF senator Cecilia Keaveney; FF TD Seamus Kirk; FF senator Pat Moylan; FF TD Michael Mulcahy; FF senator Jim Walsh; FG TD Tom Hayes; FG TD Dan Neville; FG senator Paul Bradford; and Labour TD Pat Rabbitte.
The minutes of the meeting record that when the Office Holder Resource policy came up, Mr Rabbitte "had to withdraw from the meeting due to a prior commitment".
Mr O'Donoghue went on to bring his wife Kate Ann on several trips abroad while serving as Ceann Comhairle, including the 2008 St Patrick's Day trip to Houston, New Orleans and Washington DC.
She also went to South Africa on a flight costing more than €5,000, where Mr O'Donoghue was attending an anti-poverty conference in April 2008. And she accompanied him to Paris later that year for the presentation of awards and a day at the races in Longchamps.
The Oireachtas Commission decided to increase the annual travel budget for Mr O'Donoghue and fellow office holders from €100,000 to €160,000, the entertainment/ gifts budget was increased from €21,000 to €32,000, and a new special projects budget was added at a cost of €10,000.
The minutes of the meeting on November 28, 2007, record no objections from any of the members to the changes.
Mr O'Donoghue, his wife Kate Ann and his private secretary had already run up a bill of more than €550,000 for foreign travel while he was minister for arts, sports and tourism between 2002 and 2007.
Mr O'Donoghue became the first Ceann Comhairle to be forced out of office last September after it emerged that his bill for constituency expenses, perks and foreign travel topped €200,000 over two years.
Disappointed
Mr O'Donoghue was said to have been disappointed when he was appointed to the position of Ceann Comhairle by former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in June 2007, after having previously served as minister for arts, sport and tourism.
The policy document of November 2007 contained a series of recommendations to increase the number of staff and the travel budget for Mr O'Donoghue's office.
"The proposal makes the case for an appropriate level of resources, both staff and financial, to support the office holders of the Houses of the Oireachtas, namely the Ceann Comhairle, the Leas Cheann Comhairle, the Cathaoirleach and the Leas Chathaoirleach, in carrying out their duties," it said.
The cost of supplying five extra staff to Mr O'Donoghue was €263,000.
- Michael Brennan Political Correspondent
Irish Independent
