THE NEW governor of the Central Bank, Patrick Honohan, has cancelled travel by spouses at taxpayers' expense, following the disclosure that spouses of bank employees had gone on 71 trips between 2007 and 2009.
The matter is to be investigated by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the Dáil's spending watchdog, despite last night's disclosure.
Mr Honohan said he had been informed that in the period 2007 to 2009 the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland had paid for the travel of accompanying spouses to business meetings on 71 occasions.
"The total cost of this was €67,450. Of these trips, 62 were within Europe with an average cost of €435. The other nine trips were long-haul in business class and accordingly dearer.
"I was not aware that the organisation had been covering the cost of so many spouse trips. While some of this expenditure could perhaps have been justifiable in the past, the practice does not seem appropriate in present circumstances.
"Accordingly I have decided that spouse travel will no longer be paid for," said Mr Honohan, in a statement.
Earlier, Fine Gael deputy leader and finance spokesman Richard Bruton described the decision of the Central Bank to pay for spouses of 52 officials to go on foreign trips "unacceptable". He said the opportunity to travel abroad was a privilege that should be used only where it serves the public interest.
"It is unacceptable for the Central Bank and perhaps other agencies to have used the facility to travel abroad for anything other than in the pursuit of the public interest," said Mr Bruton. He added that the disclosure about trips by spouses would add to the anger and frustration among members of the public whose livelihoods had been put in jeopardy by regulatory failure.
The information about the Central Bank emerged after the Comptroller and Auditor General had highlighted the fact that 52 employees had brought spouses on foreign trips.
Earlier yesterday, the PAC decided to have its own investigation into the controversy and decided to write to the Central Bank seeking information on the trips concerned.
In a statement last night, PAC chairman Bernard Allen said the committee welcomed Mr Honohan's decision "to put details of the bank's expenditure on flights for spouses into the public domain.
"We are pleased that the Central Bank has chosen to reveal this information publicly," he said. "We hope that other State bodies will consider following this example and do away with this practice, other than when absolutely necessary."
He said that despite last night's disclosure, PAC would be seeking more details about the travel and the purpose of the trips made by spouses.
"We have jurisdiction over the Central Bank in relation to value-for-money," said Mr Allen, adding that the committee would be inviting the bank to appear before it as part of a series of hearings into financial regulation scheduled to take place between April 22nd and May 6th.