NON-MINISTERIAL foreign travel by TDs and Senators cost almost €1 million during 2008, according to the latest figures made available by the Oireachtas.
Hundreds of trips by parliamentary committees, delegations, associations and individuals cost the exchequer €925,391, the highest on record. The amount was well over twice as high as the total of €401,000 for 2007.
However, the lower costs for 2007 are explained by the fact that it was an election year and foreign committee travel was curtailed for long periods before and after polling day.
The schedules cover all Opposition TDs and Senators, as well as backbench Government TDs and Senators. The individual costs exclude holders of the post of Ceann Comhairle, Leas-Cheann Comhairle and Cathaoirleach of the Seanad.
The individual who incurred the highest travel costs over the two years was Fine Gael Clare TD Pat Breen, who claimed expenses of €42,667 for 15 trips over the two-year period. Like a lot of the highest spenders, Mr Breen is an Irish member of one of the European parliamentary assemblies. The majority of his trips were to Council of Europe plenary sessions in Strasbourg, Tromso and Rhodes. His travel include trips to Kazakhstan, along with another six TDs and Senators, and New York.
The highest individual costs for a single trip were incurred by Sean Barrett, Simon Coveney and Fiona O’Malley of the Climate Change Committee. They all travelled to the United Nations convention on climate change in Bali for nine days in December 2007, along with one official. The total cost of the trip was €38,256, or more than €9,500 each.
The full schedule of parliamentary travel expenses for 2007 and 2008, released under the Freedom of Information Act, lists hundreds of individual and group trips, taken by some 160 TDs and Senators.
A small number of parliamentarians travelled abroad more than 10 times during that period. Besides Mr Breen, they included Bernard Durkan (FG), Frank Fahey (FF), John Perry (FG), Michael Woods (FF), Senator Terry Leyden (FF), Senator Cecelia Keaveney (FF), the late Tony Gregory (Ind) and former senator Paschal Mooney.
There were multiple trips by committees to the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Other destinations included Kazakhstan, Bali, Thailand, Malawi, Cairo, India, Moscow, Panama and Istanbul. The majority of the trips were to European cities.
Foreign travel by parliamentary groups has been subject to a growing level of media scrutiny and public criticism over the past two years on the grounds that some were “perks” and “junkets”; that some fact-finding trips to long-haul destinations were of dubious value; and that TDs and Senators insisted on travelling business class and availing of executive lounges at airports.
Following discussions with the Minister for Finance earlier this year, the Oireachtas Commission announced it would dramatically reduce its budget for committee travel in 2009.
It was cut by 63 per cent from €695,000 to €254,000.
Senator Dan Boyle (Green Party) has expressed strong criticism in the past of some of the trips to far-flung destinations, which he described as “perks” and “junkets”. He said he welcomes the decision to slash the travel budget.
“Trips abroad have cut down in 2009. That should be noted. There has been a reassessment of the amount and type of travel that has been done in the past. People are now looking at the wider aspect and asking fresh questions. Are we using information technology to promote teleconferencing, so that we can reduce the need to travel?”
Mr Boyle is listed as having made one trip during the period, a trip to Edinburgh in 2007 that cost €909.
He said that some committees felt they were almost under an obligation to spend the money set aside for travelling.
“I think that that has changed. So has the practice of using the airport lounges and travelling business class,” he said.
Travel by Oireachtas committees accounted for over €500,000 during the two years, but involved approximately 200 trips.
By comparison the bill for the Irish Parliamentary Association (IPA) came to €400,000 for 27 trips. A bilateral visit to Australia for 10 days in the autumn of 2007, comprising eight IPA members, cost a total of €72,283. Seven parliamentarians were involved in an eight-day trip to Bali in Indonesia in late April 2007, which cost the taxpayer €46,673.
Eight Irish politicians are members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
A further four are members of the Western European Union Assembly, which provides a forum for debate on security and defence in Europe.
Top five high costing schemes
1 Cost: €55,683A ustralia, New Zealand and Thailand: February 16th-28th, 2008: Noel O'Flynn (FF), Sean Ardagh (FF) and Noel Grealish (PD) meet the ethics committees of the national parliament of New Zealand and of the state of Victoria. Also a "review of the committee system".
2 Cost: €46,673 Bali: April 27th-May 5th, 2007: Irish Parliamentary Association members Noel Davern (FF), Paul McGrath (FG), Sen Geraldine Feeney (FF), Sen Mary Henry (Ind), Seamus Pattison (Lab) and Sen Rory Kiely (FF) travel to the 116th assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
3 Cost: €33,935 India: March 9th-19th, 2008: Brendan Howlin (Lab), Denis Naughten (FG) and Sen Denis O'Donovan (FF) of the Committee on the Constitution explore freedom of expression, association and assembly and human/constitutional rights generally.
4 Cost: €26,723 Wellington: March 25th-April 5th, 2007. Finance Committee members MJ Nolan (FF), Paul McGrath (FG) and Sen Joe O'Toole (Ind) travel on a fact-finding visit to New Zealand to examine financial regulation and freedom of information.
5 Cost: €16,808 South Africa: May 9th-17th, 2008: Bernard Allen FG), Brendan Kenneally (FF), Deirdre Clune (FG), John Curran (FF) and Róisín Shortall (Lab) of the Public Accounts Committee. The aim was to "meet South African PAC and visit Irish Aid projects in Zambia and SA".