A gasp of surprise swept through the Dublin City Council protocol committee when it emerged at its meeting last week that, less than half-way through the year, only £6,000 remained in the corpo's annual travel budget of £35,000. Not only does the financial situation mean that imminent trips to conferences in Greece and Finland had to be reluctantly turned down but the new Lord Mayor, who takes office at the beginning of July - most likely Labour councillor Paddy Bourke - may be confined to the Mansion House for the first six months.
Councillors inquired how this situation had arisen and learned that the trip to Dublin's twin, San Jose, California, in March, cost £9,000 - mostly in air-fares, since the eight councillors and the Lord Mayor, Sean etc Loftus, were guests. They also learned that two councillors and the Lord Mayor went to Japan at a cost of £8,200 and that from there the Lord Mayor went on to China at a cost of £3,500. In addition, the Lord Mayor travelled to Jerusalem, Berlin and Copenhagen. Several councillors told Quidnunc that they were surprised at the amount of travel Loftus has undertaken in his 10 months and at the cost to the travel fund.
Loftus says the Lord Mayor's office should be used to promote jobs, investment and tourism in the city. "The amount of money my role costs us is a flea-bite compared to the net results of these trips. I assure you none of them is a holiday."
The protocol committee decides who travels, not him, he said, and in addition he has to pay for his wife to accompany him and she is a better speaker than he is.