Council seeks US trip refund

A LOCAL authority spent more than €40,000 on St Patrick’s Day travel and is now trying to claw back more than €17,000 paid out for a cancelled trip to New York.

Limerick City and County Council approved three separate delegations to visit the US in the build-up to St Patrick’s Day and for the day itself.

Records obtained under Freedom of Information reveal how a two-person delegation travelled to New York for the Annual Queens County St Patrick’s Day parade at a cost of €4,462.

A second delegation – this one of five people – were then booked for a trip to Savannah, Georgia, for the city’s St Patrick’s Day parade.

Only four of the five travelled with the visit cut short just three days after they arrived in North America. Costs involved in the trip amounted to €18,679.

A third delegation of six people was also due to travel to New York on March 14 but the €17,206 trip had to be cancelled at the last minute due to Covid-19.

The local authority said that, in common with thousands of other people, they were now looking to recoup some of the costs involved in the cancelled trip.

A council spokesman said the schedule of trips were agreed by elected members and were “important to foster and establish new links”.

He added: “The costs here represented value for money at the time of booking,”