TDs' Washington trip cost €19,000
Committee pair on 'fact-finding mission' were chauffeurred around US capital at taxpayers' expense
Sunday December 27 2009
TWO backbench TDs were chauffeured around Washington DC at the taxpayers' expense while on a €19,000 fact-finding mission for a little-known Oireachtas Committee in June of last year.
Noel O'Flynn, a Fianna Fail TD, and John Perry, of Fine Gael, were supplied with a car and driver for the six-day trip by the Irish Embassy at a cost of €3,575 ($5,629). The bill included a generous €591 tip and €67 worth of telephone calls made from the car.
The TDs were in the US capital on official business on behalf of the Working Group of Committee Chairmen, which spent more than €70,000 flying around the world to research new protocols for Oireachtas Committees last year.
The trip to Washington DC was one of three long-haul excursions undertaken by the Working Group of Committee Chairmen, which is chaired by Noel O'Flynn. The group also flew to Thailand, New Zealand and Australia, while Mr O'Flynn went on a solo trip to meet parliamentarians in Panama.
The Washington trip cost €19,358 for the two TDs and an official from the Houses of the Oireachtas. On top of their €3,500 flight and €1,700 hotel bills, Mr Perry and Mr O'Flynn also received generous expenses entitlements, including subsistence of €441 for the six-day trip and an overnight allowance of €144.45. Mr Perry submitted a claim for €175 for telephone calls while Mr O'Flynn claimed €71 for taxis to and from Cork Airport.
Mr O'Flynn's solo trip to Panama for five days last November cost of €6,297. While in sun-soaked Panama, the TD stayed for three nights at the Playa Bonita Resort and Spa, described as "a beachfront escape" that offers "tropical resort seclusion", and two nights at the Marriot Panama. The total bill for five nights came to €1,046. The TD also spent €225 of taxpayers' money on a generous selection of Newbridge Silver pen and pen holders for his Panamanian colleagues.
In February last year, Mr O'Flynn was one of six TDs and two officials who set off on a 12-day odyssey to Australia, New Zealand and Thailand that cost the taxpayer €55,683.
Mr O'Flynn was accompanied by John Perry and Sean Ardagh, the Fianna Fail TD, from the Working Group of Committee Chairmen. They were joined on the excursion by three members of the Dail Committee of Members Interests, independent Galway TD Noel Grealish, Fianna Fail TD Peter Kelly and Fine Gael TD Padraic McCormack, who were meeting with the ethics committees of parliaments in New Zealand and Australia.
The trip took in two days in Bangkok before the group travelled on to Wellington and Melbourne. The cost of the trip was increased by a hotel cancellation charge of €1,488, gifts of €430 and a hefty "entertainment" bill of €1,030.
The Working Group of Committee Chairmen was researching new protocols for Oireachtas Committees in advance of their meetings being broadcast live on the internet. Mr O'Flynn shared some of the group's findings earlier this year, including the
fact that New Zealand allows coffee and fruit to be consumed in its parliament chambers. The new protocols drawn up by the working group include a ban on eating or drinking in committee rooms and a ban on mobile phones.
The latest data on travel expenses incurred by TDs and senators were released by the Houses of the Oireachtas under the Freedom of Information Act.
- Maeve Sheehan
Originally published in
