Parlon seeks clarification on ministerial expenses

FORMER MINISTER of state Tom Parlon says he is writing to the Department of Foreign Affairs to ask it to clarify details of expenses incurred by ministers on overseas trips.

Mr Parlon insisted yesterday he did not personally leave a €1,750 tip to a limousine firm in Atlanta during a St Patrick’s Day trip despite the fact that a “gratuity” of this figure was contained in departmental documents.

Mr Parlon said he was not denying the money was spent, but insisted he was not involved in hiring the cars by the Department of Foreign Affairs, which agreed the rates and paid the bill, before it was reimbursed by the Department of Finance some six months later.

Mr Parlon told The Irish Timesyesterday he never saw the bill until a copy was given to him as part of a freedom of information request, in recent weeks.

He said he was unaware the bill contained a “gratuity” of 20 per cent, which bought the total to €13,400 for seven days.

“From my perspective, the costs incurred were excessive. For instance, it seems that it was normal practice for local embassies to agree to a 20 per cent gratuity for chauffeur services, which strikes me as being extremely high.”

The amount was based on an hourly rate of €72 for two cars for up to 17 hours a day. He also took issue with the description of the cars as “limousines”, saying they were black sedans.

Details of the expenses were published yesterday by the Sunday Tribune.

Mr Parlon was accompanied by his wife, a private secretary and an adviser on the trip.

Two cars were used because embassy officials travelled with them. The first daily journey sometimes started at 7am and ended after an evening function, he said.

However he maintained he had not known “the cars were often sitting around all day doing nothing which is an awful waste”.

“Every Minister is now getting all this thrown at them and I want the Department of Foreign Affairs to clarify that the arrangements were made by it and Ministers wouldn’t even have known what the agreements were. To say that I personally left a tip of €1,750 to a driver is just wrong. One of my officials gave the driver $50 at the end of the week, that was all.”