Varadkar intervened over retention of State car for Coveney

Former taoiseach Leo Varadkar intervened to ask whether Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney could retain use of a State car, a Government spokesman has confirmed, as controversy over the issue continued in the Dáil.

“The secretary general in the Department of the Taoiseach, at the request of the previous Taoiseach, did call the secretary general of the Department of Justice to ask if it was appropriate, on security grounds, for Minister Coveney to retain a security service,” the spokesman said.

“An Garda Síochána acted on this request, and this is a matter for An Garda Síochána as it is a security issue.”

Earlier, Labour leader Alan Kelly claimed Mr Coveney was using a State car and Garda drivers "without permission" because no Cabinet decision was made to approve the move.

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Taoiseach Micheál Martin insisted, however, that “it doesn’t require a Government decision” for the Minister to retain the car and security.

Mr Kelly put Mr Martin under pressure in the Dáil about Mr Coveney keeping the car and Garda security without Cabinet approval.

The Taoiseach said the security assessment was that Mr Coveney - who is also Minister for Defence - should retain his car, adding: “And I’m not getting involved in terms of any security appraisal.”

The Taoiseach was responding to the Labour leader and Tipperary TD for the second day in a row about who made the decision to allow Mr Coveney retain his State car and Garda drivers at an annual cost to taxpayers of €200,000, even though he is no longer tánaiste.

‘Value for money’

[ In October 2010, Dduring the economic collapse in 2011, Mr Coveney, then Fine Gael’s transport spokesman, had said in the context of a row over ministerial cars: “At the moment we have this automatic entitlement to a State car and two Garda drivers when you become a senior minister. There’s no need for that any longer; you need to have value for money with every cent that we spend now.” ]

In 2011, the Fine Gael-Labour cabinet approved a decision that only the taoiseach, tánaiste and minister for justice should retain a State car, rather than all Government ministers.

Mr Kelly had said that since there was currently no change in that position, the retention of the car without Cabinet approval raised serious questions.

He said: “So now you have a Minister going around in the Garda car that’s costing €200,000 a year without permission because there’s no Government decision.”

He asked the Taoiseach: “Were you aware of that and did you give him permission to do so, because it is going to be deeply concerning if you did not?”

‘Not getting involved’

Mr Martin said he was “not getting involved” in any security appraisal around Mr Coveney retaining the car even though he is no longer tánaiste.

He said: “This communication happened before I became Taoiseach.” He was elected Taoiseach on June 27th.

Mr Martin said: “The secretary-general of the Department of Justice on Sunday 28th June received a query from the secretary to the Government as to whether or not it was appropriate on security grounds for Minister Coveney to retain his Garda driver.

“And the security assessment from the gardaí to Justice is that he should retain it on security grounds.”

Mr Kelly had asked: “Where did you ever hear of an audit of the security of a government minister being given orally over the phone to justify that?”

The Labour leader had received correspondence in relation to parliamentary questions about the cost of a State car and two Garda drivers, which was put at €200,000.