Car expenses completely off the scale, says Gormley

THE COSTS OF foreign travel and accommodation for ministers, including car transfers from one terminal in Heathrow to another, were “completely off the scale” and “unacceptable”, Green Party leader John Gormley said yesterday.

Mr Gormley was reacting to a report in yesterday’s Sunday Tribune that he had made use of the controversial airport transfer system whereby a car was sent from London to collect him from one terminal at Heathrow and bring him to another.

The newspaper also stated that a chauffeur-driven car travelled five hours to collect Mr Gormley from the Holyhead ferry to take him to a climate change event in Hay-on-Wye in Herefordshire in May 2008. The cost of the car hire for the two-day event was €2,200.

Mr Gormley told RTÉ’s This Week programme yesterday he had spoken to ministerial colleagues about this practice and some had confirmed a car had also been provided for them in similar circumstances. He said the Government had taken measures to ensure that expenses were reduced. He said that he had taken a conscious decision not to use the Government jet.

The Minister said the Irish embassy in London ordered the car at Heathrow airport. “When you get off the plane and they say get into that car there . . . I had no idea . . . those costs are wrong, they should not be tolerated . . . I have made every effort to ensure that costs are kept down,” he said.

In reference to the Hay-on-Wye trip, the Minister said he consciously took the ferry and trains to the UK. He said the embassy in London had ordered a cab and he had to take it as there was no other way of getting there. He could not cycle or use public transport.

However, he saw the amount of money involved was wrong. If the embassy ordered the car in Wales, it would have cost a lot less money. A spokesman for Mr Gormley told The Irish Times last night it was unavoidable on occasion for Ministers to use hired cars to allow them to carry out their functions. However, he said when the Minister became aware of the costs, he sought to make revised arrangements. The Minister was looking at bringing his official car on the ferry for future events in the UK.

The spokesman said Mr Gormley had not been aware of the costs of the car hire at the time and that in relation to the trip to Herefordshire he was unaware that the car came from London.

In a statement, he said: “Public transport connections between Holyhead and Hay-on-Wye are poor and car hire on this occasion was unavoidable. The car trip from Holyhead was in the region of five hours. Travelling to any airport in the region would also have necessitated car hire as there was no airport on a direct public transport link.”

“The transport involved was a diesel people carrier and the party included the Minister and three other people. Transport was arranged via the Irish embassy in London. Most importantly, at the time the Minister was unaware of the cost; he did not know a car was being provided from London and has since required that new arrangements for car hire have been implemented for any official travel.”

The Sunday Tribune also reported that Minister for Health Mary Harney ran up a bill of €735,000 for using the Government jet 12 times between February 2006 and September 2008. It also said in this period she spent €65,000 on hotels and car hire. A spokesman said all the costs were accrued as part of official business and were in line with guidelines.

It also emerged yesterday that a St Patrick’s Day trip to the United States involving Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey cost €70,000 while one night’s accommodation at the Dorchester Hotel in London for former taoiseach Bertie Ahern cost €2,400. It was also reported the bill for a banquet in India during a trade mission headed by Mr Ahern came to over €28,700.