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[Article] €100,000 spent each week to fly civil servants

  • 09-09-2004 8:51am
    #1
    Victor
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 78,494 ✭✭✭✭


    http://home.eircom.net/content/unison/national/3952587?view=Eircomnet
    €100,000 spent each week to fly civil servants
    From:The Irish Independent
    Wednesday, 8th September, 2004

    CIVIL servants are spending more than €100,000 a week on flights and €20,000 a week on taxis, new figures reveal.

    The 15 government departments spent more than €5m last year on commercial flights, while just under €1m was spent on taxis, figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act reveal.

    European destinations such as Brussels, London and Paris were most popular, with more than 3,000 flights taken in all. In most cases officials flew economy class, except when accompanying ministers.

    Ministers seemed to be less concerned about value for money as they almost always flew business class.

    Unsurprisingly, the Department of Foreign Affairs had the biggest bill for commercial flights. Diplomats from the department took more than 1,200 flights at a cost of €1.9m. The department also had a €248,000 taxi bill for the year.

    The Taoiseach's department paid out €92,716 on taxis between June 1, 2003, and May 31 this year.

    Officials took more than 200 flights at a cost of €174,281. Among the most expensive flights was a trip by the Taoiseach and two officials to Mexico, which cost €13,272.

    One of the most expensive trips was taken by Department of Education officials, who went to a conference on autism in Boston. The fares alone cost €33,545. Education Minister Noel Dempsey and his wife also attended the conference in November last year at a cost of a further €10,204, or €5,102 a ticket.

    Spokespersons from a number of departments said that in all cases, stringent rules were in place for the use of taxis by civil servants. Flight costs were also kept under watch, said a number of departments.

    Labour TD Joan Burton said: "The amount spent on taxis should be subject to rigorous audit to ensure the best value for money is maintained."

    Fine Gael deputy leader Richard Bruton said a new approach to money management within the civil service was needed to "use resources prudently".

    Tom Felle


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