Gormley says he did not use limo on Wales trip

MINISTER FOR the Environment John Gormley has said he did not use a limousine on a trip to Wales.

Speaking at an environmental conference in Tullamore, Co Offaly, yesterday, the Minister said “there was no limo in Wales”.

Mr Gormley’s expenses had come under scrutiny at the weekend along with other Government Ministers. He had travelled to Wales by ferry in May 2008 and used a Mercedes to travel to a climate-change event in Hay-on-Wye in Herefordshire.

The cost of the car hire, which covered the two-day visit, was in the region of €2,200.

Mr Gormley said he would publish his expenses in full, but he hoped there would be no misleading headlines used in this instance. “I was very co-operative with journalists and they actually got on to my department to say thank you very much . . . then proceeded to put a headline which was completely misleading on top of it,” he said. “There was no limo in Wales.”

He added: “A limo conjures up an image of a long, sleek vehicle and people drinking cocktails in the back of it . . . This was a people carrier. The only way that we could get to this venue was by car and yet there was a headline there.”

He said he had no difficulty publishing his expenses and he wanted to publish them as soon as possible, but it takes a while to get all that information together.

“You have to get the material from embassies if you have been abroad,” he said.

“Very often you don’t know what the embassies have done on your behalf, so people need to understand that.”