THE PROVISION of State cars to members of the Government is to be raised at Cabinet by Green Ministers in the context of public controversy concerning the issue, Green Party sources said last night.
The spectacle of ministerial cars being driven to Farmleigh House for a Cabinet meeting last Monday triggered considerable public anger and the junior Coalition partner is said to be anxious to address the issue.
Green Party leader and Minister for the Environment John Gormley suggested last week that a carpool system may have to replace dedicated ministerial cars used by members of the Government and former taoisigh.
No decisions had been made on the matter but Mr Gormley added that “nothing can be off-limits at this stage”.
In response to a Fine Gael parliamentary question, it emerged that the cost of State cars to the exchequer for 2008-09 came to almost €11 million including the salaries of full-time Garda drivers.
There are 27 State cars, three of them supplied for the President, Director of Public Prosecutions and Chief Justice, 19 for Government and other office-holders, and five for former taoisigh.
Fine Gael Transport spokesman Simon Coveney said: “At the moment we have this automatic entitlement to a State car and two Garda drivers when you become a senior minister. There’s no need for that any longer; you need to have value for money with every cent that we spend now.”
Green Party Education spokesman Paul Gogarty told the Dáil last week: “We need to scrap the ministerial Mercs as soon as possible, reallocate the Garda drivers back into working on the ground and create a pool of junior ministerial drivers.
“I acknowledge that Ministers need to work while travelling and they cannot be driving. It is very difficult to work and drive.
“I suggest a pool of drivers to drive Ministers in the Ministers’ own vehicles. This would send a message that we are not the elite.
“It appalled me to see Ministers driving into Farmleigh in their Mercs, as it sent out the wrong message.”
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore told RTÉ's This Weekyesterday that there should be a pooling system, with smaller ministerial cars, to cut costs.
He said vehicles which cost less to purchase should be used rather than “some of the very expensive top of the range vehicles I see driving around the place”.
He said it was not unreasonable that transport be provided for people when they had official duties to perform. “But I think there is a far cheaper way of doing it,” he added.
It has emerged that the Cabinet meeting planned for this afternoon is to be postponed until tomorrow afternoon so that members may attend the removal in Cork of Léana Martin (7), daughter of Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin.
Meanwhile, official sources have played down speculation that the budget may be announced on the same date as the four-year framework plan.
The budget is scheduled for December 7th, with the plan likely to be announced during the third week of this month.
However, Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan said last week that “the end of November returns are an important element in the calculation of the annual budget because they allow for as precise a figure as can be obtained in regard to tax receipts”.
27: The number of state cars
3: Supplied for the President, the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Chief Justice
19:For the Government and other office-holders
5:For former taoisigh