Public impression of expenses wrong - Cullen

THE MINISTER for Arts, Sport and Tourism has said he is happy with the record of his expenses while in office.

Martin Cullen said yesterday that the impression had been given to the public that Ministers’ expenses were going into their pockets, but this was not so.

His comments came after John O’Donoghue resigned from his position as Ceann Comhairle.

Asked if he was happy with his own expenses as Minister, Mr Cullen said he was. He said there needed to be a differentiation between costs and expenses.

“The way a lot of it is being portrayed is giving the impression to the public that all of this money is going into our pockets, which of course it isn’t,” he said. “It’s a cost of doing the job.”

He said he accepted that we were now in different times and, like any company, the Government was “scaling back”.

“But I can tell you, I know, as Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, I’m not going to win tourism sitting over in Kildare Street,” Mr Cullen said.

He said a Minister needed to be out where the market was, encouraging tour operators and airlines. “That’s a vital ingredient in terms of continually trying to reinforce the message that Ireland is open for business,” he said.

There was no system in the world that couldn’t be improved, he said, but expenses were part of the job. “All these things are just a tool of doing the job,” he said.