THE COST of flights and accommodation for Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Leo Varadkar and his private secretary to represent the Government in India on St Patrick’s Day came to over €8,000.
The figures, published by Mr Varadkar on his department’s website, show he and his private secretary took business-class flights from Dublin to India and back. The outbound flights cost €3,106 and the return ones came to €3,863.
Two internal flights were also taken in India. Both of these were economy-class travel and cost just over €250 each.
Asked about the high cost of travel at a time when the Government has dispensed with most ministerial cars in a bid to cut transport costs, Mr Varadkar’s spokesman said business-class travel had been used as the minister had a number of engagements after each of the long-haul flights.
“The general rule applied by the Department of Finance is that first-class travel is not used and it was not used on this visit. The Oireachtas guidelines do allow for business-class travel for flights of more than eight hours when the Minister is on business.
“In this case, business class was used for the overnight flights between Ireland and India and was followed by meetings within a few hours of arrival in India. All the other flights were economy or flexi-economy,” he said.
He added that Mr Varadkar’s decision to publish the figures was a continuation of his policy of publishing his expenses on his website, something he began doing long before he became a minister. The figures were posted on the department’s website in recent days.
The total cost of hotel accommodation for the Minister and his private secretary came to €1,223.
Meanwhile Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald, who travelled to Australia and New Zealand to represent the Government on St Patrick’s Day, yesterday published details of the travel costs she incurred.
She too took business-class flights to and from Australia and was accompanied on the trip by her private secretary.
The total cost of their flights came to nearly €10,000, but this included economy class flights within Australia and from Australia to New Zealand’s north and south islands.
The total cost of hotel accommodation for Ms Fitzgerald and her private secretary was €1,226.
MINISTERIAL TRIPS: WHAT THEY COST
Minister Leo Varadkar's trip:
Two business-class flight from Dublin to New Delhi:
€3,106.14
Two business-class from Mumbai to Dublin:
€3,863.80
Minister Frances Fitzgerald's trip:
Two business-class flights from Dublin to Sydney and back; return flight (economy) from Sydney to Canberra; flights (economy) from Sydney to Christchurch; from Christchurch to Auckland and from Auckland to Sydney:
€9,734.48