Health board members across the State claimed more than €1 million in travelling expenses and subsistence allowances last year, it has emerged.Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act for six of the State's 10 health boards show their members claimed €658,180 in travel and subsistence last year.
With figures outstanding for the North Eastern Health Board, the North Western Health Board, the Northern Area Health Board and the Midland Health Board, as well as the Eastern Regional Health Authority, which between them have more than 150 members, the final bill to the taxpayer for their 2002 expenses will be well over €1 million.
The bill is likely to be even higher this year as the Government recently approved a 12 to 13 per cent increase in travelling expenses for health board members and staff.
The increase, agreed as part of the new pay deal, is to be backdated to January 2001.
Figures from the South Eastern Health Board show its expenses bill for health board members jumped by €26,997 last year to €106,991 when compared to the amounts paid to politicians and medics on the board in 2001. The member of the board with by far the highest expenses bill was Kilkenny county councillor Ms Cora Long who claimed €10,538.
Her claim also exceeded that of all individual members of the Western Health Board, one of the largest in the country, which results in councillors and other representatives travelling long distances to meetings in Galway.
The Mayo councillor Mr Patrick Kilbane falls into this category, having to travel from the Erris peninsula for health board meetings in Galway and his was among the highest expenses claims in the WHB area last year at €9,014.
Senator Terry Leyden, who would have had to travel from Roscommon claimed €7,608 but he had claimed over €13,000 the previous year.
The health board pointed out that members who held the position of chairman or vice-chairman had to carry out more duties on behalf of the board and their expenses bills would therefore be higher.
Mr Leyden was WHB chairman for 2001-2002.
In some regions like the Mid Western Health board the bill for expenses from board members fell last year from €69,120 in 2001 to €55,933 in 2002. This is partly explained by the fact that not all expenses would have been claimed by the end of December 2002. The total bill for travel and subsistence in the other health boards in 2002 was: Southern Health Board €121,074; Western Health Board €107,804; East Coast Area Health Board €110,573; and the South Western Area Health Board €155,805.
Meanwhile, senior health board management in the six health boards for which data is available claimed more than €291,900 between them in expenses last year.
Travel and subsistence allowances paid to the chief executive of the WHB, Dr Sheelah Ryan, amounted to €11,085.