WIT office spent €6,000 on taxis

THE PRESIDENT’S Office at Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) spent more than €6,000 on taxis during a four-week period in 2008, according to information released under the Freedom of Information Act.

A 107-page document released this week gives details of spending on hospitality, including a €3,272 bill for the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin and another for €2,611 for the Merrion Hotel, Dublin.

While more than €290,000 was spent on hospitality since 2004, a large number of expense items are listed as “hospitality expenses”, with no other details given. Other substantial hospitality claims, many for over €1,000, are listed only as “trade creditor sundry”.

Most taxi expenses are paid to a Waterford couple listed as Martin and Eleanor Power. Virtually all of the 100-odd pages in the institute’s expenses files carries a payment to Power Taxis. In April 2008, the service was paid €3,080 by WIT. A further payment of €3,130 was made one month later.

The president of the institute, Prof Kieran Byrne, a non-driver, has defended the €100,000 spent on taxi services as good value for money when compared with the cost of potential mileage claims.

Claims are also made for domestic subsistence and domestic travel in January 2004.

Local companies paid for services to the institute include Dylan Vaughan Photography and the Newpark Hotel in Kilkenny. Lamber de Bie Flowers, based in Kilkenny and Waterford, and the Arlington Lodge Country House Hotel are also used extensively by the president’s office.

The institute file also shows a high level of spending on public relations and marketing. There are frequent payments to local PR firm Bance Nolan and to Bracken PR in Dublin. There are several payments of up of €9,680 to Marketing on Demand Limited.

Bance Nolan received more than €4,800 in professional fees during a two-month period in 2004 and there are frequent other payments to them.

Bracken PR received €4,668 in February 2005, one of several payments.

A total of €525 was paid for “publicity” to a Gerard Keane. But the institute was unable to supply any further details yesterday.

Expenses of the president’s office between 2004 and this year include: taxis and couriers (€139,977); fine art (€134,009); publicity and advertising (€773,234); sundry costs (€3.17 million) and professional fees (€607,374).