DELTA Airlines and the Olympic Council of Ireland paid for a trip to Atlanta for the Minister of State for Sport, Mr Bernard Allen his wife and three children.
Mr Allen, who acts as Grand Marshal in the Atlanta St Patrick's Day parade this weekend, was asked by the Olympic Council to go on the fund raising trip to Atlanta last Easter. His secretary, Mr Austin Mallon, and his wife also went on the expenses paid trip to the host city of this year's Olympic Games.
When asked to travel to the US over Easter 1995, the Minister is understood to have made the joint that he did not wish to be away from his family. The Olympic Council (OCI) stressed the need to have him on its programme in Atlanta and, while Delta provided free airline seats for the Minister, Mr Mallon and their spouses, the OCI paid a reduced airfare to the airline for Mr Allen's three children.
Delta Airlines has a five year sponsorship contract with the OCI.
After five days of official business involving the Olympic Council's fund raising drive, Mr Mallon and his wife returned home and the Allen family remained for some days in the US at their own expense. The Minister said he assumed he would be paying for his children's trip but was told Delta, as chief sponsors of the Olympic team, was covering the cost.
The OCI president, Mr Pat Hickey, said yesterday it had invited the Minister to look at facilities in Atlanta in "pre Olympic year" and meet members of the Games' organising committee. It also wanted him to add "clout" to its promotions campaign by speaking at two functions there.
The council managed to sell three "Green Jackets" - corporate entertainment packages for the Olympics at $10,000 each, and the Minister had been partly responsible for this success, he said. "The whole thing would not a have cost £2,000 and we made $30,000. It was a good investment," he added.
Mr Hickey indicated that former Ministers for Sport have also travelled abroad at the OCI's expense.
The Exchequer is covering the cost of Mr Allen's trip to Atlanta for the St Patrick's Day celebrations.
Mr Allen said: "My trip to Atlanta was no secret. It was quite public. There was no conflict of interest and it is normal practice for a Minister for Sport. If I had not gone last Easter, I would have been heavily criticised. It was done after proper preparation. in consultation with officials in my Department."
The OCI received £1,085,000 last year from the Minister for Sport for pre Olympic preparations, and funding this year is in the region of £800,000.
Under the new Ethics in Public Office Act, all Oireachtas members are required to declare "gifts" of travel worth more than £500 received by themselves and "connected persons". This only applies to travel undertaken since July 1st last.